What’s up family, how is it going? Thanks so much for the cookies that y’all sent and for the letters and dear elders! Are y’all glad that school is back in session and that y’all actually have to do things now. Things are going pretty good for the most part here, and I am not sick at all anymore so I am happy about that. The best way to describe the MTC is that days feel like weeks and weeks fell like days. I’m to the point now to where I would love to just jump into the field, the MTC is nice but I would rather be outside teaching and walking around than just studying in class. Last Friday at the University my companion and I talked to about 10 people and gave away our first Book of Mormon and handed out about 6 pamphlets so it was definitely a pretty successful day and I got my shoes shined for 10 pesos plus the last half of my coke from a kid who did a great job, so it saved me the work. Also this week we got to go the store for the first time on Tuesday. It was weird to walk in and the ¨Wal-Mart greeter¨ was holding a shotgun and didn’t look like he was in the greatest mood. Also it was weird because everything was in Spanish and I had no idea where anything was. They don’t have Dr. Pepper here so I’ll have to learn how to live without it for two years, oh well. At the store it was funny to see how much cheaper or how much more expensive everything was. For example 200 pieces of note book paper cost $5, and they had shirts from like Pac Sun for $6, so everything was either more expensive or cheaper. So everyone stalked up on Pepsi and Coke because the juice is getting old. We are teaching about everyday here and some go better than others, you can tell how well a lesson is going to go depending on how much thought and preparation you put into it. Good news, we got to pull out our cameras on Tuesday because the Haitians were leaving, so we have one more day before we leave to take pictures. We also got new roommates from Guyana, and they are 2 black kids that know English, but are learning Spanish here because they don’t have there US visa anymore. They don’t really seem to have respect for my stuff because when I came into the room they had my iPod out, using my perfect pushup, and they ate all of my cookies, in which I only had 2, and were drinking my soda. The funny thing is we had a discussion about this stuff before all of the Latin’s came in yesterday and when I walked in my room they were doing exactly what we kind of judged they would do, I’m not going to lie it pissed me off, because they didn’t even ask and I hadn’t even met them. I would recommend trying to not send me a lot of packages because how much it costs y’all to send it, and I have to pay a little to receive it, and I’m guessing companions in the future will take my stuff. A package here and there will be greatly appreciated! but I don’t want to cost y’all much. You can just put the money into my college savings if you want, and if you want to send a package make sure to put pictures of Jesus on them. I wish I could get packages all the time but it is probably better if I don’t. So I am glad that Brittney’s talk went well, I also had to give my first talk in Spanish this week, probably because I missed it last week because I was sick. It was definitely the most nerve racking talk I had every given, so I thought I got through the meeting without speaking and then President Hendricks called me up to give the last talk, so oh well. I guess I did okay because the president quoted parts of my talk afterwards, and I was also even able to put some humor into it with Spanish on the spot. It sounds like Jacob is having fun out in the 106 degree weather in football, and the girls are having fun in seminary and basketball. Also like mom and dad are staying busy with working at the school and like y’all had fun in South Padre. I definitely miss being able to go swim, especially here where it is so hot and humid. This morning I was one of the first white elders chosen to go do Initiatories at the Temple, because they usually have Haitians and natives go but neither was going today so it was cool to do. They did my Initiaories in Spanish which was cool and try to understand what they were saying, but I still haven’t done an endowment session in Spanish, which I want to but there is usually an English majority with the elders so they do them in Spanish. The Temple is really beautiful here. It also sounds that Brittney’s car is bad luck, sorry to hear that it had another accident. Jacob it will be good to finally get some football sport updates, because you never hear of football here. One elder brought one and so I got to throw yesterday but we can’t actually play a game of football, which surprises me because basketball gets dirty out on the court. My companion is really good, and also there is an elder in my district that is 6¨4´ that is playing for a small Mormon college that is really good, so it is good to have some competition. So the Latinos started arriving last night and they make me realize how much Spanish I really know. It is frustrating to not be able to say what you want to say when you are talking to them or when you are in a lesson.
All of y’all please send me updates in how y’all are doing in school and how your sports are going. I miss being able to watch y’all play. Also we found out this week that we can receive email from anyone but we can only email our family. So if you could put my email on facebook that would be awesome. Jacob I think you are friends with Chase on facebook, could you write him a message telling him to email me in is inbox that would be awesome, and just tell him that my brother wants you to email him and give him my email address. Also I never got to see the pictures from our vacation so if you could email me some of the pictures, and the picture y’all used for my mission plaque that would sweet (y’all better have picked a good one).
I hope that all is well and that work and school are going good for every one. Have a great week! Tengan un buena semana!
Love, Elder Smith
Also my address for here:
Elder Matt Smith
Av Bolivar #825
Los Robles
Dominican Republic
but I think pouch mail is much better i think the address is, but I'm not sure: maybe check first if not sure use other
Elder Matthew Robert Smith
Dominican Republic MTC
PO Box 30150
Salt Lake City UT 84130-0150
USA
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Week 2 in the DR
Hola familia, Que Tal? Hey the mail hasn't come in the past week so if y’all sent me anything in the past week on Dear Elder could you email it to me or just send me a note on what’s going on. You can still use Dear Elder it will just take a while to get here. So just email, because that is probably the fastest I can get stuff from y’all. But this week has been great or at least the last couple of days. I guess my stomach sickness didn't take a good turn and I was in bed all Saturday and Sunday, which sucked. But last Friday we went out to the University and did legit contacts with the little Spanish that we know, but it ended up great. I was able to understand all of the 4 people we talked to pretty easily, but one guy would not slow down for the world so I would just have to listen to key words and put them together. They use a lot of slang here and blend words together that make it hard to understand what they are saying. We talked to 4 people for about 10 to 20 minutes each so that was cool, one guy just wanted to quiz me on the Bible so that was fun, it was kind of hard because of all the name changes they have in Spanish so oh well. It is amazing how much that I have learned in the past couple of weeks, and how much I can understand the language. The people here are great though and are much more patient than Americans back home, they will sit there and listen and actually talk to you which makes it easy for me. It was scary at first but when we started to talk, it was easy from there on. I am getting more comfortable teaching in Spanish and teaching in general, but it sucks when you want to say something and you know how to say it in English but you can't in Spanish and I figure it is going to be that way for a while. You can still bare strong testimony with the knowledge that you have and that is what is important that they feel that what you are telling them is true through the Spirit. But if you could email me what is going on, any questions, or the things I asked for that would be great I still have plenty of time of email left so I can get back on later this afternoon.
Love, Elder Smith
Continued from above:
Hey I just got y’alls dear elders a couple of minutes ago, the mail got here a little late this week we usually get it Tuesday or Wednesday night. It is great to hear from y’all, and Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad, I hope the steak’s tasted great, that is one of the many American foods that I miss very much. I hope y’all have a good time in South Padre this weekend. So I'm guessing school starts sometime next week so that will be exciting for y’all. I feel for Jacob and football practice, I just got done pulling weeds at the temple for the past 2 hours and I was sweating like a dog. Hopefully Jacob you are looking forward to football, it will be fun! I miss football a lot and I won't get to play it for the next 2 years so you will have to teach me how to throw when I get back. So dad you are working out a little more now. If you really want to lose pounds around the waste just eat rice and beans for a couple of weeks and get a stomach sickness and you will drop weight like nothing. This weekend I ate a total of 6 soda crackers and I ended up losing around 10 pounds over a couple of days, so it worked for me. Its good that Kirk is doing good and that you are getting to go to Astros games still. I bet it was awesome to get to listen to Elder Bednar, he is one of my favorite speakers and has a lot of wisdom. I have seen many talks that he has given in the MTC. Thanks for sending me back everything that I asked for, if Johnny gets his call soon let me know, and if y’all want to tell me anything after Sunday you should just email it to me. I am sure that the girls are ready for school and seminary to start. I don't think I could ever get up at 5 every morning again and I am glad that we at least get to sleep into 6:30. It sounds like y’all are had fun at girls camp, and boating and going to different places I guess. I am guessing that Jacob is taking advantage of my old cell phone, and is probably texting Colin's girl behind is back or something like that, JK. I guess I got to figure out how to send mail to Argentina from here, I was hoping to get Andrew's email address because some people can email there friends, but everyone can get email from friends they just can't write them is what I have been told. I enjoy hearing form y’all and I wish it was like in Provo where we could get mail twice a day, but here it is only once a week. This mission is definitely not easy and it is nice to get mail from family and friends to give you something to hear about what they are doing. Every time I start thinking about something back home I just try to work harder and usually the thoughts about back home go away. This place is way beautiful and it is nice to have a temple a 15 second walk away. It is a nice temple and you can tell that the inside of it is not made for tall people, there is an elder in our district that is 6'9'' and he has to slouch down to walk down the halls and stuff and it is pretty funny to see him walk through the town. Tomorrow we have are contacts again and hopefully it goes as well as last time. I got to go and it was good to finally get your letters! Have a great weak, Tengan una semana buena!
Love, Elder Smith
Love, Elder Smith
Continued from above:
Hey I just got y’alls dear elders a couple of minutes ago, the mail got here a little late this week we usually get it Tuesday or Wednesday night. It is great to hear from y’all, and Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad, I hope the steak’s tasted great, that is one of the many American foods that I miss very much. I hope y’all have a good time in South Padre this weekend. So I'm guessing school starts sometime next week so that will be exciting for y’all. I feel for Jacob and football practice, I just got done pulling weeds at the temple for the past 2 hours and I was sweating like a dog. Hopefully Jacob you are looking forward to football, it will be fun! I miss football a lot and I won't get to play it for the next 2 years so you will have to teach me how to throw when I get back. So dad you are working out a little more now. If you really want to lose pounds around the waste just eat rice and beans for a couple of weeks and get a stomach sickness and you will drop weight like nothing. This weekend I ate a total of 6 soda crackers and I ended up losing around 10 pounds over a couple of days, so it worked for me. Its good that Kirk is doing good and that you are getting to go to Astros games still. I bet it was awesome to get to listen to Elder Bednar, he is one of my favorite speakers and has a lot of wisdom. I have seen many talks that he has given in the MTC. Thanks for sending me back everything that I asked for, if Johnny gets his call soon let me know, and if y’all want to tell me anything after Sunday you should just email it to me. I am sure that the girls are ready for school and seminary to start. I don't think I could ever get up at 5 every morning again and I am glad that we at least get to sleep into 6:30. It sounds like y’all are had fun at girls camp, and boating and going to different places I guess. I am guessing that Jacob is taking advantage of my old cell phone, and is probably texting Colin's girl behind is back or something like that, JK. I guess I got to figure out how to send mail to Argentina from here, I was hoping to get Andrew's email address because some people can email there friends, but everyone can get email from friends they just can't write them is what I have been told. I enjoy hearing form y’all and I wish it was like in Provo where we could get mail twice a day, but here it is only once a week. This mission is definitely not easy and it is nice to get mail from family and friends to give you something to hear about what they are doing. Every time I start thinking about something back home I just try to work harder and usually the thoughts about back home go away. This place is way beautiful and it is nice to have a temple a 15 second walk away. It is a nice temple and you can tell that the inside of it is not made for tall people, there is an elder in our district that is 6'9'' and he has to slouch down to walk down the halls and stuff and it is pretty funny to see him walk through the town. Tomorrow we have are contacts again and hopefully it goes as well as last time. I got to go and it was good to finally get your letters! Have a great weak, Tengan una semana buena!
Love, Elder Smith
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Week One in the DR
Sent on August 12, 2010
How is it going guys? The Dominican Republic is awesome and I am doing well for the most part. The food is great (rice and beans for every meal), but I guess my stomach is not used to the micro organisms in the food so I have had a stomach sickness for the past two days that I am getting over right now and should be good after tonight. A couple of the other elders got it to, so I got a free sprite out of it though. The Island is beautiful, but people like to just leave there trash on the ground as we found out while we were cleaning the university for service today. The people here are awesome, and are really nice. Every time a member that is in the building or at the temple sees my name tag I get asked if I am related to Joseph Smith, I get asked about 10 times a day no joke. That is the first thing the Haitians asked with the little English they know. Pesos are way sweet and there are like 36 pesos to the dollar. I made my first purchase with the peso on the way back from the university, I bought a 20 oz coke for 20 pesos( little over 50 cents) so it was a good deal. On Tuesday we had the President of the Caribbean area 70, President Viñas, came for our devotional and he was a powerful speaker that showed a good ways to use the scriptures. That is way sick that Elder Bednar is coming for stake conference, so y’all will get to see an apostle before me, lucky. I love it here though the temple is 30 seconds from our building and you can go walk around after meals, and you can see the ocean from there. We got to go to the temple today, but luckily they did it in English this time, next time I think they are going to do Spanish. I have the same companion as I did in Provo thank goodness, but this time I am the senior companion. I like our district much better in Provo. Here there are 4 people who don't act like they care that much, and then are 2 roommates that are over the top on everything, and are always telling us what to do while Elder Miller and I just chill in the middle. Yesterday Miller and I taught a ten minute mini lesson in Spanish and our teachers said we did really well, but we had an advantage because we have been working with each other for 4 weeks already. I’m working on getting used to the humidity again. I think I lose 5 pounds at gym everyday from sweating so much. The other day we had some natives that just got through going through the temple and they played some ball with us. They were a little shorter but they could play, and it was a great practice to work on Spanish. The first full day we were here I was talking with a 12 year old but I only made it a minute before he looked back at me with a blank stare, so I have gotten a little better since then. I love the people here! Our teachers know English kind of, but they usually speak Spanish. They are a little lazy sometimes and sometimes they get on facebook or just sleep in class right in front of us. Dominican Spanish is super fast and they just blend words together so it is hard to know what they are saying a lot of the time, so you have to listen closely. I’m nervous but excited for tomorrow because we go to the University to hand out pamphlets and work on Spanish. Other districts that have done it came back, and they said they had no idea what was going on. I did get dear elders from mom and Brittney so I do get them pretty quick still.
Brittney for your talk seminary as prepared me so much for my mission! Getting up early everyday and studying the gospel is what you do here, and it is a great preparation in high school for the mission. Seminary helps in daily life because it helps start your day on a spiritual note, and gets you ready to take on the world throughout the day. The purpose of a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ. And you can't help others come unto Christ if you haven't done it first yourself. Seminary helps you learn the doctrines and the Gospel of Christ that you need to have knowledge of to share with others. Having the knowledge I have from seminary has helped me so much while I teach. The more you know the gospel the easier it is to simplify it for the investigator which is hard to do a lot of the time. Hope that helps
I would like if y’all could do me a couple of favors for the next dear elder/ email: Can you change my address on facebook to where I am now, Also can you get on my facebook and look for a friend named Johnny Ott and see if it has where he is going on his mission yet. Also can you get Andrew Wilkes’s email and address for me from sister Wilkes. Also you can send me my memory card if you want, I probably won’t send any more of the cards home from risk of losing them, but I think I can email them when I am out on my mission. If you could do this that would be great!
It was great to talk to y’all last week and I hope all is well. I'm sorry mom but there won't be many pictures from the CCM (MTC). The first rule they said when we got here was no picture taking except for like the last day or something, so you can call him up and change that if you want, just kidding. I love y’all a lot and think about y’all in my prayers.
Elder Smith
How is it going guys? The Dominican Republic is awesome and I am doing well for the most part. The food is great (rice and beans for every meal), but I guess my stomach is not used to the micro organisms in the food so I have had a stomach sickness for the past two days that I am getting over right now and should be good after tonight. A couple of the other elders got it to, so I got a free sprite out of it though. The Island is beautiful, but people like to just leave there trash on the ground as we found out while we were cleaning the university for service today. The people here are awesome, and are really nice. Every time a member that is in the building or at the temple sees my name tag I get asked if I am related to Joseph Smith, I get asked about 10 times a day no joke. That is the first thing the Haitians asked with the little English they know. Pesos are way sweet and there are like 36 pesos to the dollar. I made my first purchase with the peso on the way back from the university, I bought a 20 oz coke for 20 pesos( little over 50 cents) so it was a good deal. On Tuesday we had the President of the Caribbean area 70, President Viñas, came for our devotional and he was a powerful speaker that showed a good ways to use the scriptures. That is way sick that Elder Bednar is coming for stake conference, so y’all will get to see an apostle before me, lucky. I love it here though the temple is 30 seconds from our building and you can go walk around after meals, and you can see the ocean from there. We got to go to the temple today, but luckily they did it in English this time, next time I think they are going to do Spanish. I have the same companion as I did in Provo thank goodness, but this time I am the senior companion. I like our district much better in Provo. Here there are 4 people who don't act like they care that much, and then are 2 roommates that are over the top on everything, and are always telling us what to do while Elder Miller and I just chill in the middle. Yesterday Miller and I taught a ten minute mini lesson in Spanish and our teachers said we did really well, but we had an advantage because we have been working with each other for 4 weeks already. I’m working on getting used to the humidity again. I think I lose 5 pounds at gym everyday from sweating so much. The other day we had some natives that just got through going through the temple and they played some ball with us. They were a little shorter but they could play, and it was a great practice to work on Spanish. The first full day we were here I was talking with a 12 year old but I only made it a minute before he looked back at me with a blank stare, so I have gotten a little better since then. I love the people here! Our teachers know English kind of, but they usually speak Spanish. They are a little lazy sometimes and sometimes they get on facebook or just sleep in class right in front of us. Dominican Spanish is super fast and they just blend words together so it is hard to know what they are saying a lot of the time, so you have to listen closely. I’m nervous but excited for tomorrow because we go to the University to hand out pamphlets and work on Spanish. Other districts that have done it came back, and they said they had no idea what was going on. I did get dear elders from mom and Brittney so I do get them pretty quick still.
Brittney for your talk seminary as prepared me so much for my mission! Getting up early everyday and studying the gospel is what you do here, and it is a great preparation in high school for the mission. Seminary helps in daily life because it helps start your day on a spiritual note, and gets you ready to take on the world throughout the day. The purpose of a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ. And you can't help others come unto Christ if you haven't done it first yourself. Seminary helps you learn the doctrines and the Gospel of Christ that you need to have knowledge of to share with others. Having the knowledge I have from seminary has helped me so much while I teach. The more you know the gospel the easier it is to simplify it for the investigator which is hard to do a lot of the time. Hope that helps
I would like if y’all could do me a couple of favors for the next dear elder/ email: Can you change my address on facebook to where I am now, Also can you get on my facebook and look for a friend named Johnny Ott and see if it has where he is going on his mission yet. Also can you get Andrew Wilkes’s email and address for me from sister Wilkes. Also you can send me my memory card if you want, I probably won’t send any more of the cards home from risk of losing them, but I think I can email them when I am out on my mission. If you could do this that would be great!
It was great to talk to y’all last week and I hope all is well. I'm sorry mom but there won't be many pictures from the CCM (MTC). The first rule they said when we got here was no picture taking except for like the last day or something, so you can call him up and change that if you want, just kidding. I love y’all a lot and think about y’all in my prayers.
Elder Smith
Friday, August 6, 2010
In The Dominican Republic
Hey, I made it to the Dominican Republic safely and they are letting us use email today to let y’all know that we did so safely. It is definitely a different culture, but it isn't to foreign. The MTC is on the same lot as the temple, and it is kind of like a building I think used to be a hotel. The rooms aren’t bad at all even though they are a little small. I guess they have a ping pong table so I'm excited for that so I guess I need to start working out in the mornings or at night. It was a little scary at first and I was really nervous getting off the plane, but I'm adjusting now. The people here drive worse than Utah drivers no joke, some people treat there cars like bumper cars. The thing I like is they let us sleep during our personal study time because we didn't go to bet till around 12, so it was good to get another hour of sleep in. The food they have given us isn't bad at all, but we don't get as much as we did back in Provo, it’s like a kitchen and afterwards you have to get out the sponge and towel and clean the dishes yourself. You could tell when we were driving to the MTC from the airport the different neighborhoods where different classes lived. The cars are somewhat modern, and you can tell that they have different emission standards and registration requirements when you see what people do to their cars. When we came in the airport there were a big group of fans waiting I guess for MLB players to show up so we had to get around that and find our bus and somehow get all of our stuff on it and us. There are only 33 missionaries here, and 7 of them are Haitians, so it is not big at all, everything is in the same building. I love y’all a lot and hope y’all continue to do well. My P days are on Thursday so that will be the next time I can communicate with y’all. I don't have a time restriction on the email so I don't know how dear elder works here but I know it is free so continue to send me letters.
Love, Elder Smith
Love, Elder Smith
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
MTC Week 3
Hey family how is it going. I’m excited to be able to get some time to call you tomorrow. I may call at like 6 in the morning if we have time in the salt lake airport which I probably will. This week has gone by like nothing and I'm anxious to be able to get to go out of the country. I'm kind of nervous because when you get down there they give you a native speaker as a companion which is scary because they speak the fastest Spanish in the world. Nothing big or exciting has really happened this week, other than a companionship in our district got in a little fight. I'm continuing to work hard and trying to learn as much as possible. I started reading Jesus the Christ last week and it has brought to mind many things that I have never thought of before and explained them in detail, it is a great read! It seems like everyday we are role playing and teaching an investigator, so my teaching skills are improving as I learn how to let the Spirit tell me what to do. If you go in with a plan and just stick with that plan it usually doesn't work out because you learn new stuff about the person and you teach to their needs. This is sometimes hard to do because you want to say what you have prepared. Thanks so much for the ties, the tie rack, brownies, and candy that you sent me. I think y’all are just trying to get me fat, some of my pants are already fitting tighter, but I should lose weight like nothing soon. Also thanks so much for the letters that you write me every week. It is much appreciated and gives me something to snack on at night because all of our meals are really early. I'm kind of anxious to see what they are going to feed us in the DR. It sounds like everything is going great for you guys, and sounds like y’all are having a fun summer. It will be over before you know it and you will be back at school. If you think school is long try going to it for twice as long and working the whole time and that is kind of what the MTC is like. Even though you have so much time to study it never feels like you have enough time to study here. There are many things that you want to study at once, but you can not do everything at once. I would like to challenge y’all to actually study the scriptures instead of just reading them. I remember at BYU I would just read them so I could put a check on the roll in BOM class. There is so much in there that I have never learned before and they are popping out at me left and right. My companion and I are getting much better at being unified when we teach unless it is in Spanish then we kind of just say the things that we know how to say. We are able to switch back and forth with no problems during a lesson. This week we had to teach a member in the bishopric a principle in 10 minutes as we just blew him away is what he told us, it is a lot easier to teach in English than is Spanish. Also we haven’t had any GA’s come yet, we have only gotten retired 70s so it’s kind of been disappointing but we have had s a couple of really good speakers. Last night the speaker talked about having faith, being obedient, and working in diligence so that you can have a successful mission. Its kind of lame how we have to leave our district behind because are district bonded pretty fast, and personalities were working together. I will get to join y’all soon with the heat and humidity that I have to get used to again; at least it is at low altitude. Playing soccer and working out is hard when it comes to breathing. But yeah hopefully y’all got my package with the shoes, and pictures. I also just sent one of my memory cards home so that I knew it would get home without hopefully getting lost. Y’all can put them up on my face book if y’all want, and could you change my address as well. My email is ___, and my password if you haven't hacked it yet is____, but I bet y’all are already messing with it. Well I hope y’all have a good day, and I'm excited to get too talk to y’all tomorrow! Keep doing well and stay out of trouble.
Elder Smith
Elder Smith
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
MTC Through Elder Smith's Eyes
These are the pictures Matthew mailed us.
I had to scan them, but here they are!
Matthew and his companion
Matthew with his friend Matt Johnson from home
In deep thought???
I'm guessing that is the Dr Pepper Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Brent brought him
What time is this class going to be over?
These are the pictures Mathew sent home. I had to scan them, but here they are!
Pictures from Week 3
Thanks once again to Aunt Carolyn for these pictures. If it weren't for her I wouldn't have any. Matthew said some pictures are in the mail, but we haven't gotten them yet.
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