New Area, New Responsibilities, New Challenges!

Hey Everyone! Man what a week, honestly, it was one of the slowest, hardest, and most humbling weeks that I have had I think thus far on my mission. The good thing is that I have learned so much and I am really counting on the Lord on this change.

 SAYING GOODBYE TO MY BELOVED FRIENDS IN JAEN.

Well, here is my new assignment... Zone-Chiclayo Central.   

Area-Jose Olaya.   Assignment-District Leader and Trainer.

My companion- is from Reno Nevada and he has been out 3 months on his mission, so really I should be training him. But right after the transfer meeting, we got together in the car and he told me that he has to go home and fix some things. He has had some problems with his bank and he needs to get some medication because he is a little depressed and he has a little bit of anger problems. So right now I am pretty stressed because I have had 1 week to get to know the area and I don't even know where a lot of investigators live and he is leaving tomorrow or Wednesday. The other thing is, is that yesterday during church I talked with the bishop so that he could assign a member to be a mini missionary and to be with me during these 5 more weeks in the change. So a member will be with me and his name is Willy. He is about 24 years old and he is about to get his mission call. He seems pretty cool. But it will be hard because I am going to have to teach him about everything about the mission. So please pray for us, so that everything will go smoothly.

My new area...rough...there hasn't been a baptism here for 5 months and there are really no investigators with a baptismal dates and it seems that it is going to be hard to get them baptized because they aren't quite golden investigators, but that is why we are here as missionaries, to help them to become converted to the church.

The ward is really cool though. The leaders are really focused on what they have to do. The bishop told me yesterday that he really knows that the Lord called me to be here and that it is my time to change things around. The people here in Chiclayo, well for the 1 week I have here, they are a lot harder. I have noticed that a lot more investigators try to trick us with things or ask us these weird questions, but still we are able to answer them well using the scriptures and the spirit. But I love the members here.

The climate...a little bit cooler in the night time, and just a tiny bit cooler during the day. It is still pretty hot though. Also, there is sand and dirt everywhere!!! It is kind of rough on my eyes because randomly there is a big wind and you see all this dirt coming right at you and you have to duck your head and turn away. However, the area that I am in is a pretty dang nice area; I haven't seen so many nice buildings in a very long time!

Here are some pics of my new place!

My pencionista is awesome and soooo nice. Her name is Hermana Susanna and she is about 65 and she has a son on the mission who comes home in June. But she cooks really well and I ate tacos for the first time in Peru and she gives us pizza and whatever we want (:

Anyways, I want you guys to know that I feel calm about this new assignment that the Lord has given me. I really feel prepared for this area. Jaen and all my companions there helped me and I feel that the Lord helped me learn so many things there so that I can use them here. I have learned to be a bold and powerful missionary to be able to testify strongly and answer the questions with boldness. I have learned a lot of Spanish to be able to understand the investigators almost perfectly. I have learned how to interact with people so that I can gain their trust. That is what helped me a lot this past week. I feel that I have become close with some investigators and a lot of members. I feel confident enough just to be myself around everyone.

As District Leader, it is another responsibility that I am going to have to complete, but I am happy that the Lord trusts me to do this calling. There is a companionship of Sisters in the District and the Zone leaders as well. It will be a great experience though, to be able to teach them in the District Meetings, all the leadership meetings I will have to attend, the reports I will have to do. Also, I am going to have to do the Baptismal interviews for their investigators. So please pray for that as well because I have never interviewed people before, especially people that want to get baptized!

There is an investigator that is named Angel. He is 15 years old and he has been coming to church and listening to the missionaries for about 6 months. We taught him this past week and tried to set a baptismal date for this saturday, but he told us that he was scared that if he gets baptized, he will fall later on and he will be sad because he failed. But that is what half of the people say here, if not more! But I always explain to them that it will be WAY LESS harder to fall because we receive the Holy Ghost who helps us on the way. Of course we are going to commit sins after baptisms, but that is where the repentance process comes in and we can just keep on going and holding firm to the rod. Anyways after explaining this all to him, he felt more comfortable about baptism, but he said that his parents aren't going to let him. The good news is that in Jaen I dealt with a lot of parents like that so we just need to talk with them. But I am not quite sure about this week. I hope soon though.

In Jaen, Manuel and Maritza got married and baptized and so I was soooo happy to hear that and to see how much work that we all put in so that could happen (:

You guys are so amazing and thank you for the contact solution, well...and everything you guys do. I am so thankful for our family. It is so perfect for me and you guys help me so much. Thank you for uplifting me. I promise I won't let Satan put the word failure in my head. And yes Mom, we will go to many temple trips together. I miss the temple so much. As I have been here, I have heard from so many members that they only get to go once a year, if that because they have to save up money. We are so blessed, you are right.

That is awesome about Austin Thorpe and his mission call to Peru. Tell him to get prepared to eat a ton of rice.

I love you all. He loves you.

Elder Smith

Well everyone..you all guessed it... , it is time for me to leave Jaen

Well everyone..you all guessed it... , it is time for me to leave Jaen...changes!!
To be honest I am a little sad. I have been here for 6 months and have experienced so many things and I would say that I grew the most here. A piece of my heart really is going to stay behind in this place. The members were so great to me. Yesterday I was able to give a talk and I am thankful that I could say my last few words to everyone. It was cool, I had to share a message about prophets and how we can be blessed by them. I shared the experience that we had when we went to the funeral of President Gordon B. Hinckley and even though we only got to see him for a few seconds in his casket, the spirit was soooo strong and I knew that he was a prophet of God. I also shared the experience that I had when they changed the age of the mission and how I have been blessed for taking upon me that calling and leaving a little early and all the blessings I received. After church, everyone was outside waiting for all of their families. And I walked out and suddenly everyone started screaming Elder Smith! Don't leave! Hahaha it was funny. But a lot of them are going to go to the bus stop today and say goodbye. But I really hope that one day I can come back and visit all of them...I leave today at 1 in the afternoon and won't arrive in Chiclayo until 8 30 or 9.  From there, I will sleep with some other Elders and tomorrow morning we have the change meeting, and in that meeting they will tell us where we go and so I don't know right now.

However, I am very happy with the work that I was able to do here. As you all know, my goal was to be able to leave this area better than I found it and that Elder Flores would have many investigators to teach and baptize and I feel I completed that goal. This week, Maritza will be getting married and baptized the same day! Along with her boyfriend! Ah it will be so amazing! I remember in October when we went and the dad had no interest in the church or baptism but we worked hard with them and they have felt the spirit and so he made the decision yesterday to get baptized as well!!! Ah! They will be an eternal family because their son is on the mission, the other son is going on a mission, and they are getting married and baptized! I am so excited. I hope soon they will make it to the temple when they complete a year in the church. I am a pretty dang sad that I won't be able to be there. I told the mom, Maritza, "I won't be able to be there, I have changes." And she said as a joke, "well then I am not getting married or baptized haha." Man I will miss them. They are so awesome. As well as their...fetch I forgot the word in English....sobrina....um.........oh!! Niece. Their niece might get baptized with them as well because she lives with them (:

Also we have 3 other dates with a mom and a daughter for the 15 of March and an old man of 65 for the 8th of March. Man I am sad I can't be here to see all the baptisms. But I am soooo happy that I am able to know that I leave Jaen with success. (:

Jose Martin didn't get baptized. His dad didn't want him to because he can't walk and so he wants him to get baptized with him when he heals. The only problem is that he isn't going to get healed for another 8 months. And we don't even think the dad wants to get baptized. So that is a bummer. I didn't really see the desire in Jose anyway. But Elder Flores will continue to work with him. Man I am going to miss Elder Flores as well. We never argued while we were together. We are best friends and have worked so hard and did so amazing together.

 

 Saturday night the pencionista and the ward mission leader, (they are married, obviously) they bought pizza for me and at the end they egged me....again...haha man they are so legit. I will miss them soooo much.

Well congrats to everyone on the mission calls. That makes me happy to hear about Chad and Parker. It is so weird how everyone is leaving, or has already left. I miss you all so much, and it is so weird to think that I only have about 1 year left.

I love you. He loves you.

Elder Smith

Possible last week in Jaen

 Me with my District Leader on splits

What a week it has been but such a fun and amazing one!

We had a district party and we bought like 50 cent hamburgers so we bought like 3 each and then we played some card games in the house of one of the pencionistas here in Jaen! That was so much fun. Our district right now is pretty legit and I will miss being here in Jaen. This is the last week of the change and so we will receive the news this Saturday! I think I might leave and it will be weird. I have been here since August! I came with 5 months and if I leave, I will be leaving with about 11 months! Crazy right? But my goal is to work hard until it is my turn to go!

Our zone t shirt with the baptism symbol because we always baptize the most in the mission!

We had a baptism this week!

His name is Robin! Like I said to you guys last week that his sister is a member but she moved to Lima about 2 months ago and he stayed behind. He learned everything so fast and is so committed and so he got baptized (: He always arrives to everything early and is always ready to learn and grow. He will be a strong member for sure and so that is super exciting!

Well Thursday, it was a pretty rough day for Elder Flores and I. We went to Fila Alta. There is a family and the mom really wants to get baptized but the dad didn't want to get married so she couldn't. About a month ago she told us that they had put a marriage date for the 28th of February so we got way excited about that! But Thursday we went over and the guy said that he wasn't quite sure anymore and so she got really down and sad. Her name is Maritza and she has a son on a mission in Honduras and another son that is a member and he wants to serve. Man she wants to get baptized so bad! Well yesterday after lunch we went back to our house and suddenly we heard someone scream my name from the street and it was Maritza with her son! So we rushed down the stairs, wondering what had happened and she said to us, I am going to get married on the 28th! So we jumped for joy and now we are starting on their papers so that they can get married and she will get baptized next week! We aren't quite sure the dad will get baptized yet but we shall see! The only sad news is that they will get married like 3 days after I leave...if I get changed!

Then with the investigators Jose Martin that lives there in Fila Alta. We always put a baptismal date with him but it is hard for him to attend church because of his dad who is sick in bed. But this past week we worked with him a lot and prayed for him a lot as well. As we were there in Fila Alta and I had a feeling that we should search for his older brother and see if he could stay behind to take care of his dad so that Jose could attend church. So after talking to Jose we left his house to look for his older brother because he wasn't there. So about 30 minutes we found him and he told us that he would stay behind!!! Yesterday....Jose Martin attended church!!! So now we are praying that we will be able to baptize him this weekend! Ah I am so happy (:

I love you. He loves you.

Elder Smith

Rain, Mud, and more Rain!

Well a whole bunch happened this past week!

 I got your package! Thank you so much for everything that was in there! The talks are soooo amazing and I read them all! They really helped me with some of the questions that I have had and some of the prayers that I needed to be answered! Also I am kicking butt in the football game against Elder Flores haha at first it was confusing how to play but we got used to it!

This past week as you can see...it rained a whole bunch! One night around 3 in the morning it rained probably the hardest that I have ever seen in my whole life. And our roof is a tin roof so it was extremely loud and Elder Flores and I woke up thinking that our roof was going to break. But no...We just got up the next morning with a few puddles in our house haha. Then that day, we walked in the rain and mud! It was insane and it was actually pretty cold. But we enjoyed ourselves of course!

President came as I told you last week. Man I wish you guys could meet him. He is soooo inspiring and I am sad that he will be leaving this July. He helps us a lot as missionaries and he is so thoughtful and knows how to bring in the spirit. I didn't have the chance to have an interview with him though. But it was sweet because after the conference in the morning on Thursday. Elder Flores and I went out and taught SOOO much better. Being able to leave those meetings with the spirit so strong really helps you in the lessons. 

About baptisms...well...Jimmy fell through. We don't really know what to do with him. When we teach him with his mom he is really cool and listens. But when his mom isn't there...he doesn't even want to listen to us and he doesn't let us in his house. So we might end up dropping him. We will see because he hasn't attended church these past 2 weeks. But we are going to have a baptism this Friday with a kid named Robin who is 15 years old. His older sister who is about 28 is a member and she recently moved to Lima. (The aunt of Helen). So he stayed behind and he is living in her old house. He is way smart and we look forward to baptizing him! Please pray that everything will go well for him!

 For Jose, the kid who lives in Fila Alta, he didn't attend church yesterday because his brother wasn't there to take care of his dad so he won't be able to get baptized this Saturday. We are hoping for next week...the 22nd!

We had an activity in our ward this past Friday and it was a lot of fun. We played a lot of games. In one picture is me stacking cups and then I had to jump back in a jumping bag. It was fun!

A pretty cool story...about a week and a half ago I knocked this door and an old lady came about. Probably around 65. She told us that she would come to our church because she didn't like her church anymore and wanted to find a different one. She said she would be busy so we weren't able to teach her. But yesterday she came! Without us teaching her! She was very impressed for how organized it was and how we had relief society and the primary and all the organizations. She was really pleased to hear that Jesus Christ came here to the Americas. We are going to teach her this coming week and we are way excited! Pretty cool right!

Anyway! Allison!!! You are going to be 18!!!!!!! How crazy is that!!! I feel that I am still 18. Haha feliz cumpleaños hermanita! That is crazy about the lockdown as well. Oh Lehi....you just always have to put on a scare for other people once and a while.

I hope you have a great week! I love you all. He loves you.

Elder Smith

Here you see El Rey de Los Incas tomando su Inca Kola (: Balla!!

I felt like Oprah Winfrey or Dr. Phil in that lesson

Well I would say that this month of January has been the slowest month of my mission, but this past week was one of the fastest. Man, the super bowl sounded like a lot of fun...maybe not a good game but a fun party! I honestly miss all that food...Haha yesterday I saw one of the elders from California and said the "Super Bowl!" but in a sad tone of voice and we gave each other a hug saying, "the food...the commercials...American football....ah I want it!" Hahaha!  But don't worry, yesterday for my delicious super bowl meal...I had a fried egg over a mound of rice and a side of the greasiest french fries ever haha so it was just great....I miss all you guys though.  My yes my mission is really starting to pick up speed it is kind of weird. The next change is at the end of this month, the 25 of February and I am the 2nd Elder in the zone with the most time. I am a little excited to experience new things but I need to enjoy every day I have here in Jaen.

This week went by so fast. This past Tuesday, Elder Coons, the elder from California came with me in my area for a day of splits. It was awesome because in the night, our pencionista, Hna. Deydi, made us pancakes and Elder Coons brought Peanut Butter and Nutella that his family had sent him and it was so delicious! Good ole American Food...I miss it..

I don't know if I told you guys but we are teaching a boy named Jimmy who is 14. His mom is so nice and awesome and really wants him to get baptized this Saturday but the Dad isn't along with it. What was cool though is that last week in church she signed up to give us lunch yesterday so we hoped we could go and meet the dad a bit better. However we went over and she had forgotten. But we are gonna eat with them a little later on she promised.

This past Thursday...well...another sick day for me in the mission. I woke up feeling a little dizzy with my body hurting but I thought it wasn't too bad so at 10 we left to go work but I got worse and so we came back so I could rest until lunch but I couldn't sleep because my body ached sooo bad. At lunch the pencionista got worried because she thought I had dengue, (a strong sickness here) and I came back and took my temperature with a 101.8 degree fever! I was burning! It isn't too fun to have a high fever with no air conditioning or fans to cool you off. So I tried to rest with a wet towel over my face because we had important lessons that afternoon so I prayed that Heavenly Father would allow me to go and work for at least those appointments and after about 2 hours of resting I felt good enough to go work. So we were able to go for a bit and we taught Karen. The lesson we had was very cool because she really wants to get baptized,  but she is going to Lima for a little bit and so we have to see what will happen later on. After that I got way exhausted out of nowhere and could barely walk and so we returned and I rested till dinner.

Friday, thankfully the fever was gone and we were able to work just fine. We went back to Karen and taught her with her mom. Karen is only 14 years old but she went crazy there  yelling with her mom. They started to argue and raise voices and it was awkward...her mom wants her to change and Karen disagreed and they argued about a lot of things. Haha I felt like Oprah Winfrey or  Dr. Phil in that lesson trying to give advice so that they could talk just the 2 of them and put goals together. So I think it will take more time for Karen.

Yesterday an investigator came to church for the 1st time! He is the son of the man who was in a car accident and is on bed rest for about 6 months and can't move his legs or his left hand quite yet. We found him about a month and a half ago and he has always wanted to come to church but he had to stay behind and take care of his dad because his other brother hasn't been in town, but this week his brother came and Jose came! We were so happy. Now if he attends church next week he will be able to get baptized the 15th of this month. So let's all pray for that!

I am excited for this week. President and Hermana Risso are coming to Jaen!  On Wednesday and Thursday we will be able to hear from them!

As for me I am doing pretty well. If you could send me some contact solution that would be great because I ran out and I bought some more but it makes my eyes red and it is expensive.

Oh funny story, as I said last week that this time of month everyone throws water balloons and buckets of water. Yesterday as we were walking home from church, 5 girls started to chase us with buckets of water and we had to run like a block and a half and we eventually got away!

I don't have any pics this week...sorry... But I love you all. He loves you

Elder Smith