Happy Thanksgiving

Hey guys, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope y’all had a safe and good trip to California. We just got done buying our turkey for tomorrow, and man are they expensive it was like 40 bucks! Good thing there is four of us. But I am glad that y’all are doing well in basketball and I hope that y’all have a good season.

Everything here is going pretty well, my legs are a little worn out but there is a lot to do. Elder Castillo and I are working hard and we now have a lot of people and families with baptismal dates (fechas) so we are working hard to focus on their needs and help them in everyway possible. We have some special people that we are teaching and people that are actually reading and praying so that makes the work easier. We can tell that our investigators are feeling the spirit and we can tell with the comments that they make and how they express to us the way that they are feeling.

We have a guy name Dany that is working really hard to overcome his addiction to drinking, he is struggling but we gave him a blessing and he has the desire so we have the faith that he will get over the hump soon. Also we have a guy named Richard whose wife is a member and now he has more desire to do the things than her. We also have a guy named Wildi who was a reference and has come to church quite a bit and we have a date with him to get baptized in a couple of weeks. The work here is fun. Our Bishop is a funny guy and is lying down taking a nap during sacrament meeting. At least his counselors and some other guys are strong leaders.

I hope that y’all have a good Thanksgiving dinner with the family and have some fun watching some football. Have a great week and a safe trip home.

Love, Elder Smith

I have a little more responsibility now.

Hey guys how are y’all doing? I'm doing great, I really like the area out here in Mao. It is huge! I really would love to have a bike or my truck back again out here. But yeah I guess y’all know that I am DL now, so I have a little more responsibility now. We have a really young district and I have Elder Jimenez who was my old comp in my district as well. Well I kind of have hot water. It is a zapper that only works half of the time but it is nice when it works. And I do have to play the piano here as well so I need to start working on the Christmas songs. That is cool that Britt made it on TV, it looked like BYU scored a quite a few points in the game. Congrats to Makenzie and Jacob in basketball.

On Monday there was another strike (huelga) so we couldn’t leave that house at all so it was kind of lame. Good thing the other elders in Mao live a minute from our house so they came over and had some fun. When I got here I asked my comp for the area book and he didn’t know what it was, and we found it underneath a pile of junk. So my comps trainer was really lazy and they didn’t get too much work done. But Elder Castillo is a stud and is a great teacher and a funny guy. This transfer should be awesome. There are a ton of people in my area and it is a relief after being in my last area. We got some awesome references from the members this week and we have a lot of good people now.

The ward here is kind of small, there was only like 75 people in church Sunday, but the members here are awesome and we are going to start working with them. We have a lot of young couples and families that we are hoping will progress. So I have a lot of excitement to work here and I have a feeling we will have a lot of success. We have an awesome ward mission leader and Elder’s Quorum president and they will help us out a lot.

So thanksgiving is coming up and we are going to buy a turkey in the district and we have someone with a huge brick oven in our ward and we are going to cook it there. It is awesome here there is a member that has a bakery around the corner so we get fresh bread in the morning. I hope that y’all have a safe trip to California and enjoy y’alls vacation. Take care and have a great week!

Love, Elder Smith

Here are a few pictures from Puerto Plata

Almonte Family and Carlos

Felix, the stud investigator 

Matthew and his last companion, Elder Garcia

Good news about your missionary en Santiago, D. R., please open the attached item.

LA IGLESIA DE

JESUCRISTO

DE LOS SANTOS

DE LOS ÚLTIMOS DÍAS

November 14, 2011

Dale and Marti Smith
Katy, TX 77494

Dear Brother and Sister Smith;

Your son, Elder Matt Smith, continues to progress and is becoming an effective missionary. He has demonstrated dedication, obedience, and love of his companions and the people here in the Dominican Republic. He is respected by me and by his peers.

Now the Lord has called your son to be a District Leader. In this position he will have a responsibility for several other missionaries. He will also conduct interviews to determine if baptismal candidates are prepared to make sacred covenants with their Father in Heaven. In my opinion, this is the responsibility we place on these young men that is most beyond their natural abilities; they must come to know the hearts of those they interview. These interviews can only be done well if the interviewer seeks and receives help from the Lord. This responsibility will stretch your son in a good way. Please continue to pray that he will fulfill his responsibilities and expand his abilities.

We truly feel a great love for your son. We pray for the Lord’s blessings upon you for all you have done, and are now doing, to help him be an effective servant.

Sincerely,
Miguel Lee
Mission President

I got transferred to Mao.

Hey guys how are y’all doing? It sounds like everyone is doing good and hanging in there. It sounds like basketball season is going to start up here pretty so that is exciting. I didn’t know that y’all were going to go to California this year for thanksgiving that sounds like it will be a lot of fun.

Today I had to say goodbye to the Plata and I got transferred to Mao. They left 2 missionaries in my last ward instead of 4 so I got transferred. My new companion is Elder Castillo so I get to add to my list of Latin comps. He’s from San Jose de Ocoa, Dominican Republic. Here it is way hot during the day but at least it is a dry heat and not as humid. At last I got put into a house that has a hot water zapper, so I can take a hot shower in the mornings this winter so that will be awesome.

I was a little sad to leave my old area especially with the number of investigators we had that were going to get baptized in these coming weeks. It was one of my hardest good byes, but I had to do it. Felix and the Polanco Family were about to get married and were getting the paperwork done to do it. We had some other families too that I didn’t want to leave either but oh well.

I really don’t know how things are here and we will see how it is. Looking at the area book it doesn’t look like there is a whole lot but we will get to work.

I hope all goes well in basketball for Makenzie and Jacob this year and that they play as well as they usually do. I love you guys, take care and have a good week!

Love Elder Smith



Mao is where the "A" marker is



Monkeying Around

Hey guys how are y’all doing? I am definitely excited for next week so we will see what will happen in transfers. From multiple sources I have heard that instead of 4 missionaries in our ward there will be 2 so I might stay or maybe leave. For P-day we went to the driving range on the golf course here seeing how it wasn’t too expensive. We did a potluck as a zone so we had a big Dominican lunch of rice beans and meat. I like the Cinco shirt a lot you got to get me one.


I am definitely excited to have a normal missionary as a companion so only one more week. My comp doesn’t want to be here at all so I have to drag him around and he is just killing me. I keep trying to get him going but he doesn’t know anything and during lessons it is just me teaching. We are trying hard to work with the members seeing how President Lee put the goal of 20 lessons with a member a week so it is something that is helping us out more with their testimonies and friendship. We had a great lesson with Felix last night and we put a baptism date and a plan to get married in detail. We are just trying to do the impossible and trying to get one of our many couples married. Victor is doing well and is continuing to learn and is being blessed already.

We have a family that we are teaching and they have a son that is 12 that has come to church for over a year and just started going to deacons quorum, So during Sacrament I was up front playing the piano and trying to spot him in the crowd and I thought he left, but during Sacrament I looked up and I saw him with a water tray passing the Sacrament. So we had one of our investigators passing the Sacrament and the thing that ticked me off is that after the meeting the Young Men’s president told him thanks for his help during the Sacrament. So the church here never stops surprising me.

So I hope all is going well at home and that everyone stays healthy and is doing well in school, work, or flying. I love y’all so much and hope that y’all are having a good week. Take care!

Love, Elder Smith

He kind of looks like the monkey 

I've always wanted a pet monkey, I wonder if he can bring it home.