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.

Victor got baptized Saturday!

Hey guys how are y’all doing? Well in the past week it definitely had its ups and downs. I'm glad that mom had a good trip up to Utah and I could go for some good October weather right now. Congrats on the interception last night bro! I’m glad that BYU can at least beat Idaho State and I’m jealous that y’all get to go to the BYU game this week.

Well this week, I will start out with the good. Victor got baptized Saturday! So I got to do it and it was a good baptism and the water felt really good. We had an alright show up from the members, but had a lot of missionaries a lot of investigators came which was good. So we are going to keep working with him. Felix is in the marriage process so that he can get baptized, he is the smartest investigator that I have had in my mission. He always corrects the teacher when they are teaching apostasy so that is funny. The Polanco family is doing well and the dad is starting to get his desire back up again and he asked some great questions last night. With Alberto and Linaori, Alberto wants to get married but Linaori doesn’t right now so we are still trying to help them. We have another family we are teaching and the son as a ton of desire to get baptized but we are trying to work with the whole family.

So that is the good, the bad is that Hermano Reyes had to go home a take care of a couple things so he was sent home, my new comp is Hermano Garcia, . My new comp leaves on his mission to Mexico in 3 weeks so the next 2 weeks he will be with me and he is pretty tight. Also our Elders Quorum President just got in a huge fight with his wife and has ditched his family so our main member support is now gone.
So I am just hanging on here, we will see what happens next transfer. I have had 4 different comps in this area and its killing me seeing how I have to do everything. Monday and Tuesday I was chilling in Santiago with the assistants for the day driving around with them and teaching with them. I also got my first hot shower of my mission.

So I hope y’alls week is going good and better than mine. Take care guys, I love y’all a lot!

Love, Elder Smith

Elder Matt Smith, Victor done de Paula, Hermano Reyes

Victor done de Paula

Matthew's new companion Hermano Garcia

P-day beach picture

Coconuts

Yummy coconut water

Five American Elders Sitting in a Tree

Victor is getting baptized on Saturday

Hey guys how are y’all doing? I’m doing pretty well for the most part, really tired but I’m doing alright. We just got back from Santiago and I got to eat McDonalds for lunch which was amazing. So when I was eating I met a girl that is a Jehovah’s Witness missionary that graduated in 08 from Cy Ridge high school so it is a small world when I meet people from Houston out in the DR. In these past couple of weeks I have learned a lot of patience with my comp Hno. Reyes.

But this Saturday we are having a baptism! I’m going to get to do the baptism of Victor on Saturday! So the waters of baptism will be a nice cool off. Its funny that he was a contact we did on Sunday afternoon which is the worst day to contact during the week. He told off his other pastor when he tried to say that we weren’t Christians. But also we have Felix who is a stud and a half and is getting ready to get baptized soon. We are working hard with him to get him married. Also we have the Polanco family with who we did a family home evening with them and watched a movie and it was one of the most spiritual lessons that I have had on my mission when the family began to give their testimonies and it hit hard on Otoniel that has been kind of weak lately. So they should be getting married pretty soon. This past Sunday during elders quorum are elders quorum president was teaching apostasy during the class and our investigators were correcting him throughout the lesson so that was pretty funny. So our investigators are strong and we are getting a lot of people to church right now so that is really good.

So last week I was teaching the Elders Quorum on tithing and I think the problem with tithing in this country is that people don’t know what 10% of their income is. I was putting examples on the board and no one could pull 10% from the numbers, it was kind of sad having grown men that can’t do simple math. Math is a huge problem in this country, it is really frustrating.

I hope that all goes well this week and that dad had a good birthday. Take care and be safe!

Love, Elder Smith

Happy early Cumpleaños Dad!

Hey guys how are y’all doing? Happy early Cumpleaños Dad! I’m doing all right for the most part, a couple of complaints but oh well. Thanks so much for the package those Skittles and Swedish Fish really made my day Saturday. I taught a mission high of 38 lessons last week so that was my bright spot for the week. I sent 2 Cd's of pictures home last week so y’all should get them soon.

I’m dying here little by little in this area. Yesterday was one of my hardest days in my mission when every one of our appointments fired and there was just no one to teach. There was a lot of walking involved and getting rejected by the same people over and over again. It doesn’t help when I have to babysit my comp all of the time. I just want a normal missionary as a companion. Now he has got a thing for a girl in our ward and I just can’t seem to catch a break. On top of that the mission is barely giving me any money to cover his expenses so I am barely surviving.

At least we have some good things going on in our area so those are keeping me alive. We have the baptism of Victor next week so we are finishing preparing him and helping him get ready. We had success working with the members this week in helping Felix go to church. He showed up early for his first day all dressed up with a white shirt and tie! He liked it a lot so I am hoping this helps him get closer to baptism. We are struggling a bit with the people that we have and trying to find new people.

I hope that Dad has a good birthday, and y’all can enjoy Pappasitos for me. Good luck tonight in your football game Jacob. I love y’all, take care and have a good week!

Love, Elder Smith

A kid asked me if I had been shot at yet.

Hey guys how are y'all doing? Conference weekend was way sick even though the power and signal kept going out. Every time there was a good talk the power or satellite would go out so that wasn’t too fun. But I enjoyed a lot of the talks and I learned a lot of things I can teach to my investigators. So I got the letters from the Primary kids and my favorite one was one that a kid asked me if I had been shot at yet. So they were fun and good humor. So did BYU really pulled Heaps out, dang he must have not done very good then.

But things are going well down here with the mini, he has learned a lot in the past week and it helps that he was the Ward Mission Leader before. He is 18 and is expecting his mission call in these coming weeks! The transition from being at home and in the mission the next day was a little rough for him but he is starting to adjust, he is dead at the end of the day. He is doing really well and I can almost teach with him as if he was a normal missionary. I have to put a lot of the work on my shoulder but it is fun having someone who is new in the work. He doesn’t know any of the rules so I had to help him out there. The first couple of days he would ask me if he could use the bathroom, and I would tell him dude you don’t have to ask me.

Our area is doing pretty good, I am slowly dying as I don’t know where there are any more we can contact seeing how I have contacted it multiple times. We should be able to baptize Victor next week if everything goes smoothly with him. We still have the problem of trying to get people married but I think we will be able to pull off the marriage of Alberto y Linaori soon. But we are trying to meet as many new people as possible.

But I hope everything keeps going well back at home and that temperatures cool off there and here! Have a good week and take care!

Love, Elder Smith

Hermano Reyes and Matthew

View of Matthew's house from the gondola

View from the top of the gondola

What a blessing is it that we have a loving Heavenly Father that talks to us through his servants

Hey guys how are y’all doing? I'm doing alright, so I didn’t get transferred but my comp did so I am was disappointed that I didn’t get transferred, and my new comp is Hermano(brother) Reyes. So notice how it doesn’t say elder, I am going to have a mini missionary this transfer. So I am not too excited for that, it is like training from scratch. So I have heard it is you just do everything and they are there to just take up space and be your comp. So I will have at least 2 more transfers here in Puerto Plata. I am going to miss Elder Feliz. But you have to make the best out of every situation. At least I am in an area that is progressing and we will have baptisms this transfer.

But a funny story for this week, one night we were sitting in our room talking at night and Elder Yepez went outside on the balcony to enjoy the night breeze and Elder Childs his comp thought that he went to bed. So when we finished talking Elder Childs went to go shut and lock the door, but Yepez fell asleep outside and Childs thought he was in is bed asleep. So we locked him out of the house. So my comp was woken up by someone knocking on the iron security thing on our window and it was Elder Yepez trying to wake us up to let him in the house. And so Elder Feliz thought it was someone trying to rob us at 5:00 in the morning. So after a while he realized it was just Yepez trying to get into the house. So it was kind of funny.

So I will have to do almost all of the workload this transfer but it will be fun. We have some people that can get baptized this transfer. Victor will get baptized in a couple of weeks and we just need to get Alberto and Linaori, and Otoniel and Zoraida married this transfer. No one here in Puerto Plata is married! I have never had an area as bad as this one for that.
But I am excited for Conference this weekend! What a blessing is it that we have a loving Heavenly Father that talks to us through his servants and we have the opportunity to listen to them this weekend! I am hoping I can watch it in English but we will see what we will do. I hope y’all enjoy it as well. Good luck to everyone, I love y’all!

Love Elder Smith