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The Work in Kekaha

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 16:32:15 GMT

We've Been Busy!

Aloha!

I hope everyone has had a great week or two. Things here haven't changed much other than loosing some investigators. It's always difficult to hear that people no longer want to hear the Gospel. But, we all Gucci. Things here will hopefully start ramping up this week as we work together. We're going to be encouraging families to have a family mission plan like we did in my last area on Oahu. That let to a lot of church-member involvement in the work.

It's been a busy two weeks.

We had interviews with the Mission President;
Went on a hike to Waipo'o;
Got a tire fixed;
Ate an amazing Dole Whip (pineapple ice cream);
Did a car wash service project;
Started working out again and drinking more water;
Going to bed earlier and eating good food . . . like the food at Costco;
We celebrated the 18 month mark of Sister Thomas in our area and the 2 year mark since my companion, Elder Wolfe, got his mission call;
I got corn-rows in my hair and they were dope;
We had a service project for an older auntie;
Tallied 2,200+ miles this month!
And probably a few more things that I can't remember at the moment.

Spiritual Thought:

My companion found a video on Facebook that I really enjoyed. It was a "silent interview." I know that sounds weird but it was good and will probably make more sense after you watch it. Pay attention to the feelings you have when you silently answer the questions:

Link: https://fb.watch/5_skmpYXfy/

Now that you've watched it, there are a few things that stuck out to me. In particular, I was impressed by the presence and the purpose of the Spirit of God. The Spirit can convey more truth about God than we can with all our words. In the video you can really see in the reactions of everyone as they are feeling much more than can be said. And that is because of the Spirit. As it says in the scriptures, the Spirit can convey and teach us much more than what earthly teachers can convey to us through words.

Thank you all for reading about another week and I hope you all can take something beneficial from this email.

Love you all and Aloha!!!

- Elder Smith

A New Place, A New Everything

Tue, 25 May 2021 16:37:30 GMT

Transferred to Kekaha, Kauai

Aloha Everyone!

I hope you're having a great week and getting into your summer plans and trips and having lots of fun with that.

This week has been a decent week. My new area is Kekaha on the south-west side of the island of Kauai. It's a pretty cool place so far and the people are pretty nice (except for the person who yelled at us and chased us away. I guess some people don't know we are trying to help them lol). The scene is very laid back and the population is a lot older than I was expecting. Everyone here is more local Hawaiian and more traditional.

This side of the island of Kauai doesn't receive much rain. It's hot and dry and and the rocks have a lot of reds and oranges. It very much reminds me of southern Utah. But, we actually have an air conditioner in our apartment!

Our daily drive is right along the ocean and that makes me want to try surfing. Any swimming is off limits as a missionary and so I already know how that would end. I think I can't wait to try surfing until later in life.

The work here is kinda slow and laid back, but that's just the culture. I am only here for 5 more weeks (as everyone keeps reminding me) so I'm just going to try and enjoy learning from everyone and not insist on taking the lead in every situation.

My zone is nice and there are a few more gatherings/activities here than in our zone on Oahu, so I am enjoying that. The COVID laws/rules are almost not even noticeable here. It's cool to get back to a more normal life. I haven't gotten too well acquainted with anyone yet, but I will let you know if I bump into anyone super cool.

Oh, and last thing, this next week should be fun as we have a mission tour. A General Authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will be in our mission and the whole Kauai zone gets to fly to Oahu for the day. I'm pumped about that. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it all goes in next week's letter.

Spiritual Thought:

An older gentleman asked this week if there was a list of rules that if we lived our lives by those rules, we'd be doing what we God wanted us to do. It kinda blew my mind to hear that this man was unfamiliar with the 10 commandments. It reminded me that we need to really familiarize ourselves with the basics so as to live as best we can. It also underscored the importance of our job as missionaries . . . to let everyone know about the Gospel and God's great Plan of Happiness!

This week I invite you to read the commandments that God has given us in the scriptures. As you take the time to do that, it's a good opportunity to do an inventory of your life to see how well you are following those commandments and then see what can be changed. How can we change our will to be in line with God's will?

I hope everyone has a great week!

Mahal ko kayo! (My new companion, Elder Wolfe, served in the Philippines. He speaks Tagalog like me. We've been able to speak with quite a few Tagalog speakers this week. God knows what He is doing and He knows I need to be here.)

Love,

-Elder Smith

Transferred to Kauai!

Wed, 19 May 2021 21:34:35 GMT

It's Been a While and Things have Changed

Aloha Everyone!

Sorry I haven't been writing very much lately. No excuses, really, just got a big case of the blahs. My companion has been great and it's been good to see his progress, but my living situation has not been all that good. I think I've been languishing a bit. I feel like I've just been doing missionary things and saying missionary things.

God knew I was struggling, so this past weekend He paved a way for me to be transferred. We are now starting my very last transfer here in the Hawaii, Honolulu Mission and normally I would "die" (go home) from this area. But, God wants me in a different area. I just arrived in Kekaha, Kauai!!! So far it's been great here in Kauai, but a bit hot. My new companion is also a missionary who was serving in the Philippines and got moved to the Honolulu mission. Should be a good transfer!

Be sure to check my pictures (https://www.arickgibsonsmith.com/gallery) when you can. We just uploaded 80 pictures from the past few weeks. :)

Here are some of the things that have happened since I wrote last:

I've seen some beautiful flora and fauna here in Hawaii. Purple trees, beautiful birds and goldfish, immaculate lawns, and some amazing ocean views.
We went to the Valley of the Temples in Kaneohe a few weeks ago and it was beautiful. It took a lot of time and patience, but I managed to get a spotted dove to jump onto my finger!
Somehow I woke up early last week and joined a bunch of missionaries on a pre-sunrise hike to a pillbox from World War II in Kaneohe. The fact that I woke up that early is a minor miracle! The sunrise was awesome and the views were amazing.
I got both my first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. I'm still feeling the effects from the second dose, but glad I had an immune-system response. #protected
On May 10th, I convinced some of the elders and sisters in our zone to wear the color purple for Lupus-awareness day in honor of my Mom. :)
Our zone got to do a big service project at Pearl Harbor. We cleaned part of a battleship and I even got to take a quick nap in the bunk beds!
Our zone purchased nerf guns and we've been sneak-attack shooting each other like crazy. Fun? :)
And, most importantly, Sister Jody Murphy was rebaptized into the church last week. While that doesn't necessarily "count" as a "convert baptism," we've been working with her a lot and it's been amazing to see the change of heart she's experienced. She is an inspiration and I'm lucky and fortunate to have met her!!

I'm scheduled to come home by the end of June. With the crazy timing of my mission, it seems very odd to realize that I'll be leaving next month! I need to work hard and make the most of the time I have left.

Thank you, again, for all your help and prayers and support!

The following scripture has been on my mind lately:

Alma 16: 1-8 ". ..And it came to pass that Alma inquired of the Lord concerning the matter.. ."

It's important to involve the Lord in every aspect of our lives. We can ask about missionary work, family history, and even the normal or mundane things in our lives. As we look at the tasks in front of us and then read the words of ancient and modern prophets, God will help us know what He would have us do. Most importantly, we then need to act to the best of our abilities. God will help us along the way.

Again, thank you for all you do for me. I love you all!

Aloha!!

Training Assignment

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 14:37:05 GMT

A Lot of Changes

Aloha Everyone!

The last couple of weeks have been very busy and have been filled with changes. Last week I was in a trio (3) companionship while we waited for my new companion, Elder Johnson, to complete his mandatory COVID quarantine in Honolulu. Being in a trio was very different but we managed to make things work.

This week was good and different. On Thursday I picked up my trainee (Elder Johnson) who is from Meridian, Idaho, just outside of Boise. He's 19 years old. It's been good so far and I'm looking forward to seeing him develop and hopefully take away something good from me or my teachings.

We had a busy week of service with two food drives, a service project, and our usual car wash. We stayed busy and tried to have fun while helping out. Almost all the missionaries in our Zone purchased Nerf guns and we have been at constant war ever since. In a good way... usually.

I've been able to reflect a lot lately about the fact that life can be hard and confusing sometimes. However, we've all been given strength and willpower to get through anything put before us. I know God loves us and He knows what we need. When our strength and willpower are not enough, He helps and supports us through our trials. He blesses us and our family and friends as we follow His counsel and strive to pass the tests placed before us.

I love you all!!

-Elder Smith

This is the training letter my parents received from my Mission President:

"Aloha Brother and Sister Smith,

"Your missionary, Elder Smith, has continued to make excellent progress while serving in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. Because of the great example of his teaching ability and the strength of his testimony, he has been called to train a new missionary.

"The position of trainer only comes to missionaries who have demonstrated the highest level of trust, obedience, and diligence. A new missionary's trainer sets the standard and established the framework for the entirety of new missionary's mission experience. We have every confidence in Elder Smith and know that he will be a great blessing to his new companion, Elder Johnson.

"May the Lord bless you for the support you give Elder Smith. It is a blessing to have him serving in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Walker

Mission President

Hawaii Honolulu Mission"

A Week of Conferences

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 16:45:02 GMT

In-Person Mission Conference & General Conference

Aloha Everyone!

This week was busy because we had a Mission Conference and the church's annual General Conference and a bunch of other things that are starting up in the area.

This week is transfer week! I found out I'll be staying in the same area, still be a District Leader, but losing my companion and be getting a new one. Actually, I will be training a brand new missionary, Elder Johnson. I don't know anything else about him other than that he will have to quarantine in Honolulu for 10 days first because his COVID test didn't get back in time. I am pretty nervous about training a new Elder. But, I know I can do it. I am also sad to be losing most of my favorite people from the Zone as it looks like most of them will be transferring away. A couple in particular really made the Zone a great place for me, so I now have to rely on enjoying the work to feel the Spirit and experience joy, if that makes sense.

But enough of transfer news. This past week we had Mission Conference which went well. I got a haircut before the Conference to look my best, but ended up only getting the sides cut because I wasn't super sure of the skill or just how awake my barber was. I enjoyed Mission Conference and it was great to be able to see everyone on Oahu in the very first in-person conference in over a year!

General Conference was also great. And for anyone who doesn't know what it is, it is a broadcast of quite a few of our church leaders giving talks and providing spiritual encouragement. It is such a blessing to be able to hear the words and advice of living apostles and prophets. If you haven't watched or listened to General Conference, I urge you do so. Their talks are available on YouTube! Everyone should listen, no matter who you are.

I'll talk more about the talks in a latter email, but the thing that really stuck out to me was just how much God is hastening His work, even during a pandemic. Good people are finding the gospel of Christ in amazing ways. There were 20 new temples announced throughout the world. Nothing can or ever will stop the work of God's one true church here on the earth.

I have a busy day ahead of me getting everything in my District settled. Gotta run! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

-Elder Arick Smith

Beautiful Laie

Tue, 30 Mar 2021 15:38:01 GMT

A Trip to the North Shore

Aloha Everyone!

I hope everything is going well for everyone.

This week the work was still kind of slow, but time is going by way too fast for my liking.

We made an effort to share the Family Mission Plan this week and we followed up with a few families. The last one we followed up with is an amazing family, the Hufanga family. It was super cool to be a part of their Family Home Evening. They also fed us. It was... fish.... but we're grateful for their generosity. Something that really made the evening better was singing with their family. They are a very awesome and talented Samoan family and the women can really sing. They did an arrangement of a song I'd never heard before and it was really great. We also sang a hymn and I forgot how much I miss singing with people. It was a truly great experience. I wish I could sing and do music as a career my whole life. Music is one of the biggest blessings in my life. God knew I need to be here where music is such a big part of life in general.

I invite everyone to find that one thing it feels like God put on the earth just for you and then take a second to thank him for it in a prayer. I know God loves to hear from his children.

We had a terrific experience on Saturday. We got permission to travel to Laie (normally considered a "red zone" for us missionaries because of all the sister missionaries stationed at the Temple visitors' center). We were able to go with Israel, who is a great guy who has made the commitment to start going back to church. We walked the temple grounds, sat, talked, and just enjoyed feeling the Spirit of the Lord there. It was pretty wonderful.

The other part of that trip that I really enjoyed was seeing Laie where my Dad grew up. His family lived pretty close to the Temple and I got to take some pictures of his old house and even got to see Kahuku High School where he went to school, Waimea Bay, Pipeline, and some of the other places he and his family went to when they were living here. I even saw the banyan trees by the Temple where he swung on the vines. I shared the pictures and the experience with my Dad and he got pretty emotional. It was nice to be able to share that with him. Again, I know God is in charge of things and this experience was further evidence that He knows what He is doing. I'm grateful I get to serve as a missionary here in Hawaii.

Again I love you all and I hope you have an amazing day and a wonderful week!

Aloha!

-Elder Smith

Let God Prevail

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 14:37:55 GMT

Another Week in Paradise

Aloha!

I hope everyone has had a good week. This week went by fairly quickly for me. We didn't do much this week in terms of teaching and we kind of got destroyed when it came to our goals. But that's all good. We're working hard and will just try to to do better this next week.

Last week we got to go to Pearl Harbor. We weren't able to get a spot on the boat to go see the Arizona memorial, so we'll have to schedule another time. It was a neat experience and I got some good pictures.

We had District and Zone council on Tuesday. We also spent a lot of time this week working on developing Facebook content. It's an interesting way to do missionary work.

Later in the week, we were able to attend the Sister missionaries' baptism and we tried to invite some of the people we're working with to that.

We did some teaching via Zoom this week and also got to meet with the Kaohu family. The lesson went great and I'm hoping they will start coming back to church.

Saturday was a very busy day. We helped with a food drive and I got soaked cause it rained the whole time. Then had lunch with the Larson family and had a lesson with the Hernaez family. They were very nice and we shared the family mission plan. They gave us mochi malasadas, they were the friggin' bomb, wow! Then we then went and helped at our weekly car wash.

That night, we had dinner with Israel and tried to help give him the best counsel and guidance we could. We gave him another priesthood blessing of comfort and council and we're hoping to set up a time we can walk on the temple grounds with him. He is a inactive member trying to come back and change his life completely. I'm excited for him.

After talking to several people this week, I've been reminded of the words of the current prophet, President Russell M. Nelson in the October 2020 General Conference. He gave a talk titled "Let God Prevail." One of the Hebraic meanings of the word Israel is “let God prevail.”

"Now, my dear brothers and sisters, it takes both faith and courage to let God prevail. It takes persistent, rigorous spiritual work to repent and to put off the natural man through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It takes consistent, daily effort to develop personal habits to study the gospel, to learn more about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and to seek and respond to personal revelation."

I know as we try to give God and Jesus Christ more time and influence in our lives, we will see a lot of blessings. I know these blessings come from a persistent daily effort to change or life's and give our will over to God . . . or letting God prevail in our lives.

Again I hope everyone has had an amazing week and I hope this week is even better.

Love you all! Aloha!!!

Elder Smith

Flood Recovery

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 16:09:04 GMT

Torrential Rains and Flood Recovery Efforts

Aloha Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing great this week. For anyone wondering, I am fine and safe. Last week's flooding here in Hawaii has not affected me where I live. And to everyone who didn't know about the flooding... surprise! There was mass flooding near me. We spent a lot of the week doing rescue/ relief efforts up in Waialua. We have easily spent more than half the week there.

We collected supplies (food, clothes, blankets, water, shoes, etc.) and divided them out to those in need, and even helped people in their homes. (I helped carry three different 400-500 pound freezers filled with ice - the lady owned a shave-ice business - through a moat around someone's house. It was just me and the other missionary. I may have ruined some shoes and socks.)

It was all a great experience getting to help people. But I'll also mention that it was a lot of work and very, very tiring. It's has always been amazing to see a community come together to help those in need. I have learned time and time again that it is truly a blessing to serve others, especially when they have gone through something devastating and terrible like these floods.

The rest of the week we had lessons with both members and nonmembers, all of which went great. Jody is doing amazing in her studies and we learned just how strong her support group is by how many people have reached out to her. Someone even sent her a package with helpful study materials for her and church coloring books for her young nieces and nephews. It is amazing to see other people go out of their way to help others. Sometimes you don't realize how much it means to those you help.

I hope everyone has had a great week and is doing all they can to serve others. I've been reminded of Mosiah 2:17 -

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

I love you all and hope that you will take my word for it and serve everyone around you. :) It will bless you and your family. I know it.

I love you all and Aloha!!!

- Elder Smith

A Week of Music

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 14:04:23 GMT

Testifying Through Music

Aloha Everyone!

I hope everyone had an awesome week. My week was good but it was also a little slow. We taught a lot this week, but the lessons were longer than usual (which is good) and it made it feel like we did a lot more than we actually did. Nevertheless it was good.

We set up a lot of lessons for this upcoming week so this week should be busier. I'll share some highlights from this week:

First, we had a couple cool activities this week. One was Zone Exercise and the other was Zone Breakfast. The zone exercise was awesome because we played soccer indoors, and anyone who knows me knows that I love soccer! Its very awesome and I had an amazing time. The other activity was cool too. We all got breakfast and met up as a zone so it was cool to have more interaction with different people.

Another cool thing happened yesterday. We got a last-minute invite to go to Br. Jamias house and to bring the guitars he is letting us borrow. He had someone there who is of a different faith, and he was an absolute legend on guitar. We all played and sang together and at the end of our jam session, we bore testimony to each other about the gospel, families, and the importance of following Christ. It was a great experience and it was cool to hear that because of what he heard and felt, an individual who hasn't been to church in 18 years finally wants to come back and become worthy to go to the temple. Now for the non-member guitar legend, he was cool and you can tell that he really loves God and wants to do the best he can to share good messages to those around him. Oh and he said I could keep the guitar he was letting me use for the jam session. I will be giving it back toward the end of my mission here. He said to keep it and use it to share our message. He is an absolutely amazing guy and I'm glad I got the chance to meet him.

I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is necessary for us to return to live with God. One principle kept popping up this week over and over: the doctrine of eternal families. I know as we abide by God's commandments and keep the covenants we make in his one and only true church, we can be together eternally in our families. Only through Christ's church, with His proper authority is this possible. I invite everyone to please make sure, even as temples are shut down during COVID, that you continue to hold a current temple recommend. I know that God loves every single one of you and I hope that you realize just how much. He will put people in your path to help you find His restored gospel and ultimately be able to live with Him again.

I love you all!!! Mahal ko kayo!!! (I'm practicing my Tagalog more because I'm using it more!)

- Elder Smith

Lots of Changes

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 22:41:33 GMT

A New Assignment

Aloha Everyone!!

It's been a busy week or two. I wasn't able to email last week because it was transfer week. I was asked to serve as a District Leader, so that meant I had to make sure the missionaries in my district were all settled in. We ended up getting two new missionaries in our apartment which will be a big change. So far, they're not my favorite people, so God is putting us together for a reason. It should be an interesting transfer.

Last week and this week were pretty good. We have been able to teach a lot of people, so that is great. It felt like some of my week was very long, but overall it went by quickly. Something I've learned quite a bit this week is that challenges are hard, but every challenge is there for you to learn from and to ultimately make you better. Hopefully you can survive the challenge so you can then know how to help others who might be experiencing something similar.

My new assignment of being a District Leader is great. I have no issues with it and am actually looking forward to seeing how I can best help and serve others in my district. As I mentioned, the new Elders living in our apartment are . . . different. I won't complain, but I will say that I know that I can be an example. Hopefully they will see that example and change some of their behaviors and work ethic.

We have been busy with car washes and service projects and other things to keep us busy and meeting other people. I ripped my shirt at one of our service projects, so that wasn't great. But it felt good to be able to help people.

Last Sunday I got to speak in Sacrament meeting with my companion, Elder Gordon. The Wahiawa 1st Ward broadcasts their Sacrament meetings and I was able to send the link to my family so they could see me talk. Pretty cool! I wrote down my talk so I could share it with you. Hopefully you can benefit from some of it:

Brothers and Sisters, Aloha!!

I'm excited to talk with you all today. For those of you I haven't met yet, I'm elder Smith. I'm from Nashville Tennessee and I couldn't be happier to be here. If my companion and I haven't had the privilege of meeting any of y'all yet, I hope we get to do so in the near future.

Today I'll be talking about Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's October 2020 General Conference take "Waiting on the Lord".

Elder Holland said the following:

"...faith means trusting God in good times and bad, even if that includes some suffering until we see His arm revealed in our behalf. That can be difficult in our modern world when many have come to believe that the highest good in life is to avoid all suffering, that no one should ever anguish over anything. But that belief will never lead us to “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”

With apologies to Elder Neal A. Maxwell for daring to modify and enlarge something he once said, I too suggest that “one’s life … cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free.” It simply will not work “to glide naively through life,” saying as we sip another glass of lemonade, “Lord, give me all thy choicest virtues, but be certain not to give me grief, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor opposition. Please do not let anyone dislike me or betray me, and above all, do not ever let me feel forsaken by Thee or those I love. In fact, Lord, be careful to keep me from all the experiences that made Thee divine. And then, when the rough sledding by everyone else is over, please let me come and dwell with Thee, where I can boast about how similar our strengths and our characters are as I float along on my cloud of comfortable Christianity.”

My beloved brothers and sisters, Christianity is comforting, but it is often not comfortable."

From this part of Elder Holland's talk, I learned a few things.

1) We need trials and suffering in our lives to be able to reach our full potential.

2) Asking God to remove our trials is to misunderstand his divine plan.

3) Having faith alone isn't going to make our burdens light. Its actually quite the opposite. When we have faith, we believe that God is there, we believe that God loves us, and we believe that that every trial we go through is for our benefit because he loves us.

Not to get off the topic of the talk, but I'm reminded of another talk by Elder Neal A Maxwell Where he talks about God's love for us. He starts of by saying that we accept a few truths all to casually.

1) This life is a testing ground.

2) Because God loves us so much, he placed us here at this point in time and space to face a particular set of challenges. "He will customize the curriculum"

Brothers and sisters, God has given us all challenges, both personal and public, that we each must face. But God knows that we will be able to overcome it all. I too know this to be true.

Mosiah 2:17 "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Mosiah 2:41 "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

In short we need to follow God's commandments and serve those around us and we will make it through every trouble and trial in our lives. And no matter what comes we will continue to grow and have joy in our trials

So I invite everyone within the sound of my voice to serve those around you.

Brothers and sisters, I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. It is my testimony that Christ lives and will help us as we go through our trials. He will also help us understand how to assist others as they go through their own trials...

Again, I hope this was helpful.

I love you all!!! Thank you for all you do for me.

-Elder Smith

Importance of Baptism

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 15:07:59 GMT

Desire to Teach

Aloha Everyone!

This week was good a good one on paper (we taught people and did a lot of work) but somehow felt unproductive. I guess that's because we weren't able to teach many people who are not members of the Church. I still haven't come to terms with the fact that its hard to find people to teach in a pandemic-plagued world. But, it is cool to see how God provides some good things for us to do.

We received two referrals this past week and I'm super stoked to finally have some people to teach. One of the referrals is a member who hasn't been to church in close to 20-ish years. The person who referred him said that he isn't in good shape physically, mentally, or spiritually. So, I hope we can start meeting with him soon to help in any way we can.

The second referral we are actually going to meet later today. A younger kid is having their guardianship changed and they want to start lessons to work toward baptism. On another note, we are hoping to finalize the dates of the four people who have already committed to be baptized. Hopefully we can do that this week.

I'm looking forward to seeing people take one big step closer to becoming eternal families. To me, being saved and sealed together as eternal families is one of the most important things that can be accomplished/achieved in this life.

Mormon 7:10

And ye will also know that ye are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant; and if it so be that ye believe in Christ, and are baptized, first with water, then with fire and with the Holy Ghost, following the example of our Savior, according to that which he hath commanded us, it shall be well with you in the day of judgment. Amen.

Just as it says here, I know we need to be baptized to be saved as baptism is a saving ordinance. But I also know that we need to be baptized in the proper way and by those who have the proper authority given to them through the laying on of hands and not by a school or online degree.

3 Nephi 11:25-28

Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

And then shall ye immerse them in the water, and come forth again out of the water.

And after this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one.

And according as I have commanded you thus shall ye baptize. And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been.

There is no other way to enter God's kingdom and no other way we can become eternal families. Thanks for reading. I just felt like I should share this with everyone as its very important to me and is a big motivation for me as a missionary and in general.

We had a difficult service project this week. Not a lot of those invited to help clean up an outside mess were very willing to jump in and work, so I did. It was great to work hard and clean things up, but I think I found out why so many people were hesitant. I saw my first Hawaiian centipede (wow those are nasty looking!) and a brown violin spider (a close cousin to the brown recluse). I'm fortunate I didn't get any bites. Also, some of the participants were being a little mean to a gecko, so I put him in my shirt pocket and later let him go free.

I hope everyone has a great week! Please know I love you all.

Aloha!

-Elder Smith

Creative Finding Week

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 21:59:20 GMT

A Slower Week, But a Good Week

Hello Everyone and Aloha!!!

Thanks to everyone who sent emails and messages to me this week. It was great to hear from you. I hope everyone has had a great week. This week was good but much slower than usual. We didn't get to do as much work as I would have liked, but it was still good.

One BIG thing happened... we extended a baptismal invitation to Jody, a former member of the Church who had their records removed a while ago. She accepted the invitation and we are now looking forward to seeing her baptized, either in two weeks or March 13th. So as of right now, we have four people with baptismal dates. It's great to see people acting on their faith and the promptings of the Spirit of God. I don't think I can stress enough how important it is to be baptized by someone who has the proper power and authority from God.

Other than that, we had a very slow week. We spent a lot of time doing some "creative" finding activities. Because of the COVID-19 restrictions here, we're pretty limited as to what we can do. We held a free car wash (each Saturday) and opened a free Lemonade stand. I'm not sure we found anyone to teach, but hopefully we were an influence for good in others' lives. While we were doing the car wash, someone dropped off a couple of pastries from a delicious bakery in the area. It was very tasty.

I also got a real short haircut (see pictures) and made some great pancakes from scratch. Looking back it was a pretty good week.

Yesterday, Sunday, we had a youth/parent missionary fireside. We stressed the fact that we are supposed to be here to help the members with their missionary efforts because we can't do much on our own, especially during COVID with such strict laws. And we talked about how we actually care and love them all and actually do want to meet everyone and get to know them. I feel like it went very well and I loved getting to here Ward members talk about their missionary experiences and conversion stories.

I included a picture of a "Jollibee" restaurant here in our Zone. For those who remember my adventures in the Philippines, you'll know that we went to Jollibee several times. It's pretty crazy to see one here in Hawaii. The Filipino influence is all over the place here and I actually get to use my Tagalog language skills quite often. God knew what He was doing when he assigned me to this mission.

Here's a spiritual thought for the week:

This week was definitely challenge, but not necessarily for me. As you may or may not know, my companion is pretty new and I'm his follow-up trainer. Because he is so new, the thought and task of serving a mission is still very daunting for him. Because of that, he hasn't been very driven this week or happy with the work. A lot of the week was spent talking through mental roadblocks and discussing how to switch our perspective. I am grateful for the experiences I've had with the Atonement of Jesus Christ in my life. Without that knowledge and experience, I wouldn't be able to help to my companion. Helping people with the knowledge I've gained through my experiences makes all the struggle worth it.

I hope you have another great week. Thanks again for all of your emails and your prayers!

Aloha!

Elder Arick Smith

Not a Dead Area

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 20:23:08 GMT

Getting to Work

Aloha Everyone!

How's everyone doing??? I'm doing pretty good. This week definitely wasn't without its challenges and mistakes, but we move on and make improvements.

I'm sorry about not writing last week. I took an unplanned nap and ran out of time. I guess I dropped the ball, haha.

For a quick recap, last week was pretty good but busy with meetings. We had a Mission Conference, Stake Conference, and a few other missionary meetings to attend. We were looking forward to this week so we could just get to work.

This week we taught a few people and found some people that are willing to listen to the message we have to share about Christ. It's always good to meet sincere seekers of truth. We even got to participate in a video conference with Elder Neil L. Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was great to hear his thoughts about the importance of being diligent and working hard. He encouraged us to memorize five Book of Mormon and five New Testament scriptures we know to be true.

We also did another food drive, drank Martinelli's sparkling apple juice, made very awesome breakfast dinner, met with a few awesome families, and got to teach some very powerful lessons. Also, great news, I got my new ukulele and capo in the mail and ended up playing it for several hours. I'm glad this mission allows us to play and to post creative and inspirational music on social media. I'm looking forward to getting better and being able to share my talents.

But one part of my week that I'd really like to share occurred at the beginning of this week. On Monday it was a pretty busy day. (My unplanned nap didn't help make it less busy... but I like naps so its all good.) We had a regular P-Day (Preparation Day) and then we has SYS (Sharpen Your Sickle). Its a mission-wide devotional/training. I really loved what President Walker said during his remarks. He was talking about missionary work and mentioned that he hated the words "dead area." When he served his mission in France, he got assigned to an area in the southern part of the country and everyone laughed and said that he was going to the most "dead area" in the mission. They kept making fun of him and his area. He said that he had never been so fired up before and he made it his goal to flip their perspective. When he got to his area, he told his trainer that he was going to work hard and do whatever he could to have success because he knew God didn't send him to that area to do nothing for 4+ months. He then got to work. One night, it was almost 9:00 (the time that missionaries should be heading for home if they have no set appointments.) He and his trainer decided to knock on the doors of another apartment building. On the top floor, the last door of the whole building, a man opened the door who immediately asked them to come in and teach him. He was able to work hard and find success in his area.

Just like this experience, I know that I wasn't sent to this area to do nothing. I also know that God didn't send us to the earth to just do nothing. We were sent here to go through tests and hard trials and to ultimately become stronger, better people. We were also sent here to find the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to gain a testimony, and become truly converted to the Lord.

Here is my invitation to everyone who reads this: Please take a step back and try to determine what your purpose is at this time of your life. You can go to God in prayer and He can not only help you understand your purpose, but He can help you fulfill it.

I hope you have a great week. Enjoy some of the pictures. We found a cool bumper sticker that says "Listen to the Elders." I think it was talking about your Hawaiian elders who can teach you traditions and culture, but in this case, it also applies to missionaries who can help teach you your purpose in this life. :)

With Love & Aloha!

Elder Smith

Reassigned to the Hawai'i, Honolulu Mission

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 21:28:58 GMT

Returning to Missionary Service

Aloha Everyone!!!

This moment has been long awaited, but its finally here. I am now back on my mission and have completed my first week.

For those of you who may not know, I have been reassigned from the Philippines, Cavite mission to the Hawaii, Honolulu mission. I'm very glad that I have the opportunity to finish the rest of my mission here and can't wait to see what's in store.

On Monday morning, 1/11/2021, I woke up early with my family and left for the Nashville Airport. After saying goodbye (always difficult) I headed to Honolulu with a stop in Dallas. When I arrived on Oahu, I waited for a few minutes for some other missionaries and the Mission President and his wife. Once everyone showed up, the Assistants to the President (the A.P.s) gave us each a kukui-nut lei. After that, we went to the Mission Home. The Mission Home used to be owned by Elder and Sister John H. Groberg of The Other Side of Heaven fame (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Side_of_Heaven). We had dinner and we talked for a while. I really felt like me and my new Mission President, President Walker, connected and had a great conversation.

We went over the mission rules and then read our "Christmas Letter". That letter told us where we would be serving and who our companion would be. We then met our companion and went to our areas. I've been assigned to work with Elder Gordon from Utah and the area I'm assigned to is Wahiawa in the Wahiawa 1st ward. We went to the apartment and later had a mission-wide Zoom meeting called Sharpen your Sickle. Kind of like a weekly devotional or training meeting.

The next day we drove back to Honolulu to the Mission Home. There, me and the two other "new" missionaries had more training for most of the rest of the day. After that, we went to a dinner appointment with the Manaea family. They are locals and are super nice and super cool. We talked with them and shared a spiritual thought. After, we played a game called Sweepy, and I loved it.

Wednesday we went to a food drive. We were there until 1 or 2 pm then went home to get changed and to help Elder Buckwalter (he is Elder Gordon's trainer who I am replacing) finish packing. After we dropped him off at the Mission Home and meeting a few other missionaries we headed back to our area. We then met with the Ward Mission Leader, Brother Larsen. He's an interesting guy and doesn't seem too pleased or trusting with some of the goals we came up with and the potential I see for this area.

Thursday was our first full day of work. We had our studies and did some contacting (through call or text) then we headed back to our pad and we then had weekly planning...

This whole week I have been pushing Elder Gordon to be more optimistic and enthusiastic about this area and what it has to offer. I decided to have us write down goals for the area. Let's just say Elder Gordon was very surprised about the ambitious goals I listed and that I know we can achieve those goals.

The rest of that Thursday was full of rejection and broken appointments. We went to the Bennet family's for dinner and they are awesome. They are another Army family and they have been married for 7 years. But the best part was definitely their dog. Its a golden doodle. For those of you who didn't know, that is my favorite dog at the moment and I will be getting one as soon as I can. The lesson went well and I absolutely love that family.

Friday we were all over the place. But in a good way. We taught a lot more than Elder Gordon said he is used to and we saw blessings because of it. Later in the day, we talked to the Lehano family (a part-member family) and we decided to invite all of them to be baptized. Everyone that is eligible to be baptized said "yes," so now we will be working with the father and two sons to get them prepared for baptism on the 6th of February. That alone shows what putting extra work in can do for you and those around you.

To top off a great day, we stopped by the sisters apartment and they gave us lemonade and A BEAN BAG!!! I LOVE IT!!! I will do my best to send my beanbag back home because I love it so much.

Saturday we tried to contact people but got rejected a lot. It's all good though. We then participated in a weekly free car wash and saw a great turnout. It's a good way to meet people and start up a conversation about the Gospel. We didn't find anyone who lives in our area, but it helped out some others in the Zone. Then we finished with dinner at a member's house.

Sunday we got to attend church. It felt good to be back worshiping in person. Then we contacted as many people as we could and went to another member's home for dinner. So far I'm eating a lot here. It was a great week, but I'm sure next week will be even better.

Aloha, everyone! Thank you for all your help, love and prayers.

Love,

Elder Arick Smith

My Life Got Flipped, Turned Upside Down

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 20:20:06 GMT

March 25, 2020
Leaving Cavite

Hello Everyone!

What an unbelievable week! It started off with a fun trip to Tagaytay. While there, we went to a zoo and everything else was closed because it's so close to the Ta'al volcano which recently erupted. We saw the Ta'al volcano from a distance and it was very impressive. It was a fun day and we made a lot of good memories.

Tuesday was an absolutely crazy day. That morning, we got word that we had to stay inside because the whole island of Luzon was under quarantine. Then a few hours later, after we bought a bunch more food, we got a text telling us that all foreign missionaries will be evacuated out of the Philippines! In that text, they spelled out multiple steps we needed to follow so we walked a few miles to the city to a computer shop so we could print off a document they said we needed to print off. Next, we started walking back and we got a call from the Assistants to the President (APs), that they where less than an hour away from our apartment and that we needed to be ready to leave by the time they arrived. We weren't home yet and weren't packed yet, so we ran home and threw everything that we could carry into our bags and then said goodbye to the apartment and everything that wouldn't fit in our suitcases. The Bishop was able to come over to take the food that we had just purchased, so he could give it to those that needed it. After that, we picked up a few more Elders on the way to the mission office. We dropped our stuff off at the mission office and then headed to a missionary apartment close to the mission office to sleep for the night as the APs picked up more missionaries.

We woke up the next morning and headed to the mission office to finish packing. We were told that we would be heading to the airport for a flight later that evening... which turned out to be false. So we packed up and headed to the Manila Missionary Training Center (MTC). After we got there, they gave us room assignments and told us we had a meeting later that night. The rest of the day before the meeting we tried to figure out the sleeping arrangements as the MTC is only built for 200-300 missionaries, but we would be having over 1400 missionaries stay there! 300+ other missionaries were housed in hotels downtown. The rooms were pretty crowded and soap was a very precious commodity, so precious in fact, that just like in the Book of Mormon times. If you left your [soap] for a minute just out of your sight, it would "go missing." Dire circumstances I'd say. After we all got settled, we had a meeting where they told us that we would actually be leaving on Saturday.

Thursday started off with a few church movies and then another meeting. In that meeting, President Clark told us that he unintentionally lied to us and that we actually would not be leaving until Sunday. Later that day I felt a little sick, so I went to the nurse to get some medicine and a mask. After I told the nurse my symptoms, she told me that I would be in quarantine in a room until I got better. I only had a fever of 99.6-ish at that time. After a nap in my small isolated room, the nurse came in and took my temperature. It was now at 102.8-ish, so she gave me some medicine and stuff to drink and told me to go to bed again. I woke up to the intercom saying my name so the nurse came in and said that I would have to wake up the next morning at around 5:00 to be in the MTC office to get some immigration fingerprinting done. I went to bed to try and get as healthy as possible in one night.

I woke up at 5:00 and the nurse took my temperature and gave me medicine because I still had a fever. I headed to the office and they asked me and all the other people in my group (mostly my MTC batch) to get our IDs and grab everything. We headed to Manila to the Bureau of Immigration. We were there until around 12:00 pm taking care of paperwork. My fever had broken by then so I was free to just walk around the MTC in a mask and not be quarantined. Later that night, Elder Steven R. Bangerter came to the MTC and we had a devotional. He said quite a few things, but one cool thing I'll mention is that the evacuation or the "stepping aside" of foreigners in the Philippines was prophesied by Elder David A. Bednar back in October of 2019. The area presidency and the Quorum of the 12 had a meeting to discuss Missionary work and other matters. Toward the end of the meeting, an apostle spoke up and said that they haven't heard anything from Elder Bednar and wanted to know what he would like to say. Elder Bednar then straightened his tie and told the others to buckle up for what he was about to say. He said the time is swiftly approaching when foreign missionaries would have to step aside and then let Filipinos start to run. After they get the hang of missionary work on their own, they will run faster than we (the foreigners) can keep up with. In a fulfillment of prophecy, we are being forced to step down and step aside.

Saturday was a day of packing and getting a bunch of stuff figured out. I was able to "sleep" in the same room as some of my MTC batch-mates and it was cool to be able to talk to them about the things that we have all experienced the past 7-8 months.

Sunday was filled with more paperwork and getting our passports ready and then getting on a bus to go to the airport. The Church had chartered five Delta flights to take about 1,500 missionaries from the Philippines to Salt Lake City, Utah. We got on our plane and then landed in Tokyo, Japan after a 3 1/2 hour flight. After waiting for the crew to change, we flew the rest of the way to Salt Lake City. From there, about five of us, and a few people I know from church back home, got on our final plane and headed to Nashville. We landed at about 2:30 am. It was wonderful to see my family again, but this has been a truly crazy experience. I'm still not sure what to think.

As I'm writing this, I am home and still officially a missionary. It is really weird, to say the least. No TV/internet/movies, etc. and I have to do what I can to maintain my schedule and fulfill my missionary purpose. I'm also in a 2-week quarantine just in case I was exposed to COVID-19. I will be here in Tennessee until I get reassigned. No one has any idea how long that will be or where I will go.

Food Adventures:

In Cavite, I got to eat at KFC for the first time in 8 months!

My first big meal home was my Mom's famous French-Dip sandwiches. So good!

I also got to eat mashed potatoes and roast beef that didn't taste weird. Also so good!

It was interesting eating MTC food again. It brought back a lot of memories.

Spiritual Thought:

"If we speak of faith in the abstract, it is the power of God by which the worlds are and were made, and is a gift of God to those who believe and obey his commandments." -Brigham Young

During these difficult, weird, hard, and trying times, we need to act and obey everything that God asks us to do. By acting in faith, we can then say we have faith to do all things.

Thank you for your prayers and love as I've traveled back to Tennessee. I'm not sure when my next letter/blog post will be, but I will try to keep you updated.

Love,

Elder Arick Smith

Zone Conference and a Busy Week

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 15:24:20 GMT

March 15, 2020
Preparing for COVID-19

Hello Everyone!

We've had another busy and educational week. I'll need to go through my report fairly quickly today since we're headed to Tagaytay and a zoo (sneak peak below).

Last Monday, after getting a fresh haircut, we did a little shopping and then went to an all-you-can-eat buffet. However, after eating 40+ leche flans, they decided we had enough and stopped putting them out. (That's how "all-you-can-eat" works in the Philippines.) I also had a good conversation with my companion that night. We don't always see eye-to-eye regarding how the missionary work should be done. I'm hopeful that things will change, but I'm sure it will be a process.

We had a great Zone Conference on Tuesday. We woke up at 4:30 to travel to the chapel next to the Cavite Mission office. I took a couple of pages of notes and it was a great conference. I really learned a lot. We talked about goals and how we should be doing a lot better as a mission. I know it motivates me to push for higher goals and I hope it ends up doing the same for everyone else too. We also learned we should be getting smart phones soon. My mission tatay (dad - or trainer - Elder Park) and lolo (grandpa - or trainer's trainer - Elder Lee) were there.

COVID-19 is starting to affect the Philippines and our work here. This week we were encouraged by President Cauilan to go buy a list of food items to be prepared if we have quarantine in our apartments for a long period of time. W e were told that we don't have church / sacrament meeting anymore and that we would also get word on how to proceed with baptisms of converts. We're hearing from more and more people who don't want to meet with us in their home because they are scared of the virus.

On Sunday, we administered the sacrament in our apartment and had a meeting with leaders of our ward to organize the sacrament for other members and take tithing slips to families, etc. We got to sleep with the air conditioner on that night. It was almost too cold! I actually don't know how much I like it.

We just got word that we may be stuck in our house for a bit because we have been told there is a full quarantine for the main island of Luzon here in the Philippines.

Food Adventures

All-you-can-eat Leche Flan;

We ate a lot of eggs this week!

Spiritual Thought

Prepare for the Second Coming now because it is on the way as we can see from all of the fulfilled prophecies. President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency warned: "There is danger in the word someday when what it means is 'not this day.' "Someday I will repent." "Someday I will forgive him." "Someday I will speak to my friend about the Church." "Someday I will start to pay Tithing." "Someday I will return to the temple." "Someday..." The Scriptures make the danger of delay clear. It is that we may discover that we have run out of time." (President Henry B. Eying, "This day," Ensign, May 2007, 89) I invite everyone to take action. Don't wait for "someday," do it today!

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. I love you and hope you stay well!

Elder Smith

A Busy Week in Naic

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 14:07:19 GMT

March 8, 2020
Chris Angel, Cyrus, & Cedric

Hello Everyone!

It's been a very busy week and we've been able to contact and teach quite a few people. I'm still getting adjusted to the new area (Naic) and my companion and I are not quite seeing eye-to-eye on a few things, but I'm sure we'll be able to sort things out before too long.

On Monday (Preparation Day) I spent way too much money at the grocery store on food and stuff . . . mostly because I like food. It's great to have so many options here in Naic that we didn't have in Socorro.

We had a normal District Council on Tuesday and then a " Combined District Council" meeting, which is kind of like a Zone Conference without the Mission President. It was a great meeting and we learned a lot. The Sisters' area, Ternate, is kind of slow right now, so we did a "District Attack" in their area to see if we could find some people for them to teach. We taught a lot of people that day.

We were able to give a pregnant lady a blessing of healing this week. I anointed and my companion sealed the anointing. She wasn't feeling well and said she didn't want the Aswang to get her baby, which is a fable or superstition popular here in the Philippines. It's kind of like a vampire or werewolf creature that people blame when bad things happen to them.

On Friday we prepared for three baptisms in our area. Elder Freeman and his old companion have been working with Chris Angel, Cyrus, and Cedric and they were able to enter the waters of baptism on Saturday. I haven't been able to teach them much, but in the short amount of time I've been here, I've really come to love Chris Angel. She's a terrific little 9-year-old girl and she's grown up in a very difficult situation. Her Grandpa is raising her and their relationship is funny and cooky and wonderful. He takes her to church each Sunday.

I was able to confirm Cyrus on Sunday a a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was nerve wracking and I had to do a little bit of it in English, but I survived. I love each of these three individuals and I can now also say that I can see the joy the prophets in the Book of Mormon felt when they witnessed people come unto Jesus Christ.

Food Adventures:

Honey Barbeque wings at a place called Onyangs. It was amazing.

Home-made fried chicken at the Bishop's house. We appreciated the effort, but it wasn't super masarap (delicious).

We also had marinated chicken with a tasty "Spade L Ranch" spice mix from the U.S. It was pretty good!

Spiritual Thought:

I've really been working to try to better myself as a person, a missionary, and a teacher. I'm trying to bring my actions in line with the things I'm teaching so I am not hypocritical or telling people to do things I'm not willing to do myself.

In the Book of Mormon, Enos "wrestled" with God in his prayer, so I have been trying to make my prayers more sincere. Early this week, I felt prompted to pray for something. One of the blessings we have as missionaries is knowing that if you're prompted to do something or pray for something, there's probably a pretty good reason. I felt impressed to pray for my family and their safety and that they could have peace. It was an unusual prompting, but that was one of the most sincere prayers that I have had in a while. In a sense, I can say that I wrestled with God and really wanted Him to know of my sincerity. (In no way am I comparing myself to being a prophet or anywhere near as good as a prophet.) I just found out today after speaking with my family in Tennessee that a tornado hit Nashville and the area about 2-miles south of our home on Tuesday morning and killed 24 people! I don't know what effect my prayer had, but I do know that every member of my family, friends and other families that I prayed for individually where not harmed. I invite you all to make your prayers more sincere and to act on your promptings.

I love you all and thank you for the prayers you send my way. I'm grateful for the prayers you offer for the people we're teaching. I know they are having a good, positive effect and I'm grateful for that.

- Elder Smith

A New Chapter

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 14:58:35 GMT

March 1, 2020
Goodbye Socorro & Transferred to Naic

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all happy and well. It has been a very busy and eventful week. It feels like two weeks worth of things have happened since I last wrote.

On Monday, we had a fun District activity with picnic lunch at the beach in Gloria. I got super sunburned with my shirt-of-many-colors while looking like the flyest missionary ever.

Tuesday and Wednesday were fairly normal working days, but we visited a lot of people and I got to say goodbye. I also had to pack like crazy for transfers the following day. It was both great and sad to say goodbye to so many people. Many of them had some very nice things to say. Socorro has been a tough place for me, but I have come to love it and the good experiences I've had here. One of the members who helps us a lot gave me a Tagalog to English dictionary as a parting gift. I'm still not sure how I feel about that gift. :)

Transfers!

I woke up at 4:00 am on Thursday to finish packing. One of the members came by very early and gave me a "remembrance" gift of a hard-cover Book of Mormon (which I have actually been wanting for a while now) and a jacket, which should be great for later in my mission. I got on a van and went to the Calapan pier. The ferry left at 8:30 and we arrived at Batanggas at around 10:00 am. My ride wasn't there, so I had to wait until around 1:00 pm. It took us almost 4 hours to get to the mission office in Cavite because of traffic!

This is where things got interesting. A couple of days prior, I was told that I would be transferring to Dasmariñas, which is a really, really big city. I was pretty nervous about that. However, President Cauilan said he felt prompted to send me to a different assignment. My new area will be Naic (pronounced nigh-eek) and I'll be serving with Elder Freeman. He's 20 years old and has been serving as a missionary for 20 months. He's the District Leader in this area and is from Logan, Utah. Naic is on the west coast of Luzon about 32 miles south of Manila and 30 miles north of the Ta'al volcano area.

We didn't get to my new area until around 8:00 pm, again because of traffic (I'm sensing a theme). Guess what... My new apartment not only has four missionaries (the two Zone Leaders and our companionship) but it actually has air conditioning! Running the AC is very, very expensive here, so we have to be very selective and only use it on extremely hot evenings. However, I plan on enjoying every second it's on! The apartment is dirty, so I have my work cut out for me.

Elder Englebright, one of the other missionaries in our apartment, happens to be a very patriotic missionary. I found myself being awakened to a loud Star Spangled Banner at 5:00 am on Friday morning. I struggled to stand up, put my hand on my heart, and then went back to sleep until my alarm went off.

I also got some interesting news about my old area of Socorro. Because of the recent successes we've had, President Cauilan has decided to split the area and have four full-time missionaries working in Socorro! I've been praying for that. There is a lot of work to be done in that area and I'm so happy to see the people supporting missionary work again.

My new companion and I worked hard on Friday and Saturday. The area of Naic is a perfect transition area for me. I was a little nervous about being thrown into a big city. However, Naic has some big-city elements, but also a lot of rural, country areas. They have four really huge government-housing settlements (the projects?) where people are assigned to live after disasters, etc. People get to live there free for the first year and then must start paying rent. We're hoping to have enough success to create a branch in those areas since getting transportation to church is such a big hurdle here.

On Sunday, we went to church and I was very surprised to see 230 people in attendance at our Ward! The church building is huge, too. I got to speak in front of all those people to introduce myself and share my testimony. We then got to go to the Bishop's house for lunch and his family has the most adorable puppy ever (it looks like a baby panda).

Food Adventures:

I got to eat sopas in the new area! Very tasty.

Guess who has a McDonald's in his new area? We've already eaten there three times since I've been here.

I may or may not have run out of money toward the end of the month, so I ate a lot of oatmeal. :)

Spiritual Thought:

Moroni 10:3-5

" 3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. "

In this section, we read about Moroni's promise to all those that read the Book of Mormon. If we read the Book of Mormon and then ask God if it is true, He will let us know it is true. As I finished the Book of Mormon this week, for what I can say is my first time really reading it and using all the resources I could to understand it (like the footnotes, etc.,) I can say that just through reading the Book of Mormon, I know it is true. And through prayer, it has been made known to me that it is true. It truly is "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" and it contains words from God to those of us living in the latter days. I urge everyone to read the Book of Mormon and then pray about the things you read. You too will be able to know it is a true record of scripture from God.

I've got to run. We're playing basketball and doing some other things for our P-day today.

Thank you all for everything. Mahal ko kayo!!! (I love you all!!!)

- Elder Smith

Nanay Panganiban

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 13:57:04 GMT

February 23, 2020
A Busy and Rewarding Week

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta po kayo? (How are you doing)? I hope everyone is well. It has been a great, busy, and normal week here in Socorro. We had the wonderful blessing of being able to watch Joey baptize his mother, Nanay Panganiban on Saturday. That was one of the initial goals I set when I first arrived in this area about five months ago. It was a great day.

Our week was pretty normal and very busy. On Monday, we went to C alapan and we bought way too much food. I also bought aftershave and I found out when used properly, aftershave burns a lot. We had District Council on Tuesday and then got to work hard for the next two days. We did the chair activity again where we sit on a stack of chairs, each chair representing one transfer (a six-week period). Even though the Sister missionary sitting next to me is brand new, I still had the most chairs to sit on. I don't like that activity.

Thursday we had companionship exchanges again in Pola. This time, I was with Elder Haws. We visited an inactive member of the church who has been struggling with smoking. W e had a great lesson and invited the family to make changes in their lives. We were also able to help answer some questions they had about faith, which has been a recurring topic lately in our lessons and in my personal study of the scriptures. (See below.) I said goodbye to Pola, potentially for the last time, since I'm going to be transferred this week.

We did a lot of p reparation for Nanay Panganiban's baptism on Friday, making sure the program was all set. In addition to making and eating some amazing sweet baby rays BBQ sandwiches, we had another amazing experience on Friday. We were hoping to stop in and see Margi and Mildred and we were very surprised to find Jennalynn there! She's back from Manila. She said she felt like she should come back, and I'm sure that prompting was from the Spirit. She said she really wants to come to church, but she lives far away and doesn't have money for a ride. Hopefully we will be able to get her a ride somehow so she can make it to church. Oh, and she has continued to read from the Book of Mormon and is now in 2nd Nephi. That really hardly ever happens and it's amazing to see her progression.

On Saturday, Nanay Panganiban got baptized. It was an amazing and wonderful experience and it was nice to have so many of her family and friends in attendance. She was confirmed a member on Sunday and the Spirit was very strong. I am sad to leave Socorro because I won't get to see the progress of so many people here, but I should receive updates if anything big happens.

To celebrate a big week, I finally made the Christmas dinner from the food I received from home. Turkey SPAM, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy. I even splurged and bought some Martinelli's sparkling grape juice. It was an amazing meal. :)

Food Adventures:

Great Sweet-Chicken Curry
BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (Sweet Baby Ray's)
Christmas Dinner in February with Martinelli's!

Spiritual thought:

Jarom 1:4 " And there are many among us who have many revelations, for they are not all stiffnecked. And as many as are not stiffnecked and have faith, have communion with the Holy Spirit, which maketh manifest unto the children of men, according to their faith. "

This verse talks about revelation through faith and how the people that receive that revelation are obedient and faithful. There is revelation given to us today. Through the Prophet, Russel M. Nelson, and the Apostles, we receive revelation. And if we have faith and are obedient then we will receive personal revelation from God that will guide us during our journey on this earth. I realize that the subject of faith has come up so much this week because it is essential to our growth and salvation. That's an important message to share with others.

I Love You all!!!

-Elder Smith

Richard Delos Santos

Tue, 18 Feb 2020 05:05:54 GMT

February 16, 2020
A Wonderful Week

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta? (How are you?) We've had a very busy, wonderful week. Elder Alvarez and I have been through a lot, but it was nice to have some things go right and we were rewarded with a great experience on Saturday.

Monday was a pretty normal P-Day (preparation day) but I ate a lot of shawarma. Maybe I overdid it, because I felt sick that evening. I pushed through and we got to teach Nanay Panganiban that evening. She is progressing nicely and is on schedule to be baptized next week!

We had a good District Council meeting on Tuesday and got to eat at J ollibee. We of course got ice cream at 7/11, too. We were able to teach Richard Delos Santos and went over the baptismal-interview questions with him. He's the 9-year old son of a good family. We've been able to teach them a lot and I've really come to love Richard. He's a great kid. The following day we were able to go over the same baptismal-interview questions with Nanay Panganiban.

I got to go on companionship exchanges with Elder Gutierrez in Pola on Thursday. That was a neat experience because I g ot to see some people that I taught several months ago and it was cool to see their progression. I have come to realize that I don't have much time left in this area (transfers are in 1 - 1/2 weeks) and so it's a little difficult to say goodbye to so many people. A girl named Ella was the first person in her family to be interested in the church, and now she has a baptismal goal. When we got back from exchanges, we learned that the Zone Leaders had interviewed both Richard Delos Santos and Nanay Panganiban and they are both ready to be baptized!

We spent much of Friday getting ready for Richard's baptism. On Saturday, it was a bit hectic, but we moved into our new apartment that morning and then got to have Richard's baptism in the afternoon. I had the privilege of baptizing him and everything went smoothly. We had to have the baptism in the community's large pool because the other one was being used. Richard is kind of short, so we sunk a chair into the pool so he could stand on it before he was immersed. It was great to see how happy Richard and his whole family were. The Spirit was there and it was a wonderful experience!

On Sunday, there were 44 people at church, but 10 of those were our in vestigators! It was great to see so many of them there. W e worked the rest of the day with Brother Joey and Sister Jezel and visited Romnick and the Sarmiento family.

Our new apartment is pretty nice. The window screens aren't up yet and the windows are slats (not solid glass), so I have to sleep under a mosquito net to avoid getting eaten alive. The pole holding up the net fell on my head at least three times during the night. Other than that, the place is great and even the green paint is growing on me.

Food Adventures:

We ate tasty fried chicken from Andoks;
I discovered "super delight" which is a Filipino brownie of sorts. Very delicious.
I forgot to mention that 7/11 is now serving vanilla ice cream in addition to the mellon, chocolate, and ube-flavored ice creams. It's amazing.

Spiritual Thought:

I've shared the following scripture with quite a few people here --- 3 Nephi 27:28-29. When the Savior visited the people in the Americas after his death and resurrection in Jerusalem, he said the following:

" And now I go unto the Father. And verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you.

"Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened. "

I know that through prayer, we can receive the answers we are looking for and the help we need. I also that we can't receive all we need through prayer alone. We need to search for the answers to our questions in the scriptures and reach out to others at church (and elsewhere) for help and support and guidance. All of these resources, combined with the promptings of the Spirit of God, will help us through our trials and challenges and help us receive answers to our questions.

I love you all and I am super grateful for all the support I get from you every day. Thank you!

Love,

Elder Arick Smith

Healing and Studying

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 14:05:51 GMT

February 9, 2020
A Slower Week

Hello Everyone!

This was a slower week. We weren't able to walk around and get many things done because of the injury to Elder Alvarez's toe. However, we were able to get out at least once each day and make it to some important events and even a few teaching situations. Elder Alvarez is doing better and we should be able to get back to normal work soon.

Zone Conference was Tuesday. It took us a while to walk and travel to Zone Conference, but it was a great meeting. I even got a box from home with lots of tasty goodies. That was a great pick-me-up. Unfortunately, because we stayed inside so much this week, I've eaten most of the stuff that was in the package.

On Wednesday, we had our interviews with President Cauilan. We had a great conversation and it's always good to speak with such a good man of God. President told me that I will be transferring this coming transfer (which is in 2 1/2 weeks) and will serve somewhere on the main island of Luzon. That's pretty exciting, but I have mixed feelings about leaving Socorro.

It took us a couple of days this week, but we finally got our contract finalized for the new apartment. Jerry, the landlord/caretaker got everything situated and the contract is now signed. We will be moving in to the newer, better, cleaner apartment this coming Saturday. I will only be in the new apartment for a few days before transfers, but I'm glad the missionaries will have a better living situation going forward.

We were finally able to work a little more on Saturday and we tried to go see as many people as possible, but a lot of people weren't home or told us bukas na lang (come back tomorrow). We were still able to get a decent amount of work done. We taught Nanay Panganiban and she fed us sopas (chicken, noodles, vegetables) which I think is my favorite.

We had 37 people at church on Sunday. The rest of the day we visited and taught a lot of people, including the Delos Santos, Landoy, and Sarmiento families. We got to teach the Sarmientos and it was a big crowd of 13 people in one room, with ages ranging from 2 to 90!

Food Adventures:

Chicken macaroni sopas, my favorite;
Ube (purple yam) sticky rice with roasted coconut;
Shawarma again because George is back from Manila to work for at least another 6 months;
Chicken Alfredo pasta;
Tasty beef jerky, pop tarts, mashed potatoes, and tootsie rolls from home!

Spiritual Thought:

This past Zone Conference, we were told that we need to realize the Lords expectations for us. Many of these goals are specifically for missionaries, but can very easily be related to all of our lives:

Obey with the highest motivation (love for God);
Repent every day;
Love your companion;
Follow the daily schedule and use your time wisely;
Take care of your health;
Do the work with a sense of URGENCY;
"Become the Message;"
Be united as a Mission - Be ALL IN!
Linking arms, side by side, with local church members;
Personal purity/righteousness;
Seek a sense of Holiness (Hymn "More Holiness Give Me" # 131);
Be a devoted Disciple of Jesus Christ;
Become a consecrated missionary;

We all have the Lord's expectations for us and I know if we all try to meet those expectations, we will be blessed through our enduring.

“ And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. ” (D&C 121:7–8.) All we need to do is do our best and then ask for help on what we can't do and help will be given to us.

A great talk having to do with "enduring well" is “If Thou Endure It Well” by Elder Marvin J. Ashton: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1984/10/if-thou-endure-it-well?lang=eng

This week I invite everyone to evaluate where you are at in meeting the Lords expectations and then change and be better in all that you are lacking.

I Love You All!

- Elder Smith

An Unusual Week

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 13:47:43 GMT

February 2, 2020
Ups and Downs

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta? (How are you?) This felt like a very different week. We had some good things happen, some bad things happen, and a lot of unusual things.

We've been working a lot to secure a new apartment. We spoke with the landlord but don't have a contract yet. We've been working with one of the senior missionaries (Elder Allen) who is in charge of finances for our mission. It looks like the rent will be right around 9000 pesos/month (about $175). They are thinking that the contract will begin on February 15th, if all goes well, which would mean I will probably live in the new place for 11 days before I get transferred out of Socorro.

We had District Council on Tuesday and we ate at Chow King, which it too expensive and mediocre for my liking. Other than that it was a normal day. We had great exchanges on Wednesday. I worked with Elder M cNab, our Zone Leader. We taught quite a few people and my Tagalog was pretty good that day. Other than that it was just a good day. We taught Jenalyn and her relatives, Mildred and Maylin, and we felt like the lesson went great and everyone is reading the Book of Mormon a lot, which is amazing.

Things really took a turn for the worse on Thursday. Jenalyn informed us that she took a job in Laguna by Manila! She will be leaving the area for who knows how long. She was making such great progress. I also lost my flashlight. And, another one of our investigators requested that we not come back. It was a really rough day and I'm doing my best to try not to focus on those things.

On Friday, I somehow signed up to be a "Preach My Gospel Scholar." Preach My Gospel is the missionary manual and lesson plan book we study from to be better missionaries. I didn't really know what I was doing when I signed up, but after Elder Alvarez submitted my name, I was given a list of the study and memorization requirements and just about fell over! Let's just say there are about three months-worth of studying and stuff that needs to be passed off with one of our Zone Leaders. I prayed like crazy to ask God to help me with this new, monumental task. I think my prayers may have jinxed Elder Alverez.

On Saturday, we went to Tatay Roku's house to help him harvest sand from the river so he can rebuild his home. Elder Alvarez and I were both in the river - without shoes - when he suddenly yelled out in pain. I got to do some first aid because he cut his foot (toe) open on a sharp rock. It was a deep gash with lots of blood. We went to the hospital and he ended up getting four stitches. The doctor was not very gentle when he was disinfecting the wound with iodine. We won't be able to walk around very much. Therefore, I spent a lot of time on Saturday and Sunday studying the Preach My Gospel requirements.

Some of our investigators didn't show up to church on Sunday. That means they will have to delay their baptism dates. I'm hoping that I will still be in the area when Richard, Nanai Pang Iban, and a couple others get baptized.

Food Adventures:

I learned that the Philippine siopao (pork bun) tastes a lot like manapua (from Hawaii/China). I'm glad my family ate stuff like that before my mission so I know what to expect.

Spiritual Thought:

Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve taught a very important principle related to the Atonement of Christ:

" For some reason we think of the Atonement of Christ applies only at the end of mortal life, to redemption from the fall, from spiritual death. It is much more than that. It is an ever-present Power to call upon in everyday life. When we are racked or harrowed up or tormented by guilt or burdened with grief, He can heal us. The Atonement has practical, personal everyday value; apply it in your life. It can be activated with so simple a beginning as prayer. You will not thereafter be free from trouble and mistakes but can erase the guilt through repentance and be at peace. " (Ensign, May 2001, page 23-24)

I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the only hope we have for a meaningful life. If we rely on the redeeming and the enabling power of the Atonement, I promise that our lives will be more meaningful. He will empower us. Because of Jesus Christ, our lives can be put in order, PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE.

I hope everyone has a great week. Thank you, again, for all of your thoughts, prayers, emails, and love.

Love,

Elder Arick Smith

Feeling Better

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 14:52:17 GMT

January 26, 2020
Feeling Sick and Feeling Better

Hello Everyone!

I hope you're all having a great week. This past week started pretty normal for me and Elder Alvarez. Not much to report from Monday or Tuesday, other than a good District Council meeting. We emphasized the fact that we need to place a lot of importance on asking people to read the Book of Mormon. We are sharing the message of salvation and raising a voice of warning and hope. We ate at "Dine at Log" that evening and I got a salad which was pretty good.

I started feeling pretty sick on Tuesday but didn't mind it too much until Wednesday when it got worse. We woke up early to go help Tatay Rofu before the service project to help rebuild his house on Saturday. However, the river was too high to get the sand we needed to make "hollow blocks" (like cinder blocks back home). Even though I felt pretty terrible on Wednesday and Thursday, we still managed to get out and do some work.

On Friday we visited Jenalyn Suan. From my last email, she was the one we met who kind of had a break-down and was very upset about several things in her life. We felt that God led us to her. We invited her to read from the Book of Mormon and she had read all the way to 1 Nephi 5. While that may not seem like a lot in English, in Tagalog it is super impressive and very rare for someone to read that much. We were able to help clarify a few details (she thought Nephi killed his brother, Laman, instead of Laban, the bad guy who tried to kill him and his brothers.) Later on Friday night, when we got back to the apartment, I broke my Rubik's cube record from 1:14 to 0:56. That was pretty great.

Saturdays are always busy. I was starting to feel a bit better and we were able to do our rounds to remind everyone about church. We also traveled to Pinamalayan so Elder Alvarez could do a baptismal interview. We also got to give a Priesthood blessing to one of the sister missionaries in the area.

We had an official Missionary Council Meeting on Sunday. It's great to see people functioning in their new callings in the Branch. At church, Lendal and Alona spoke and mentioned the importance of health and child checkups which were occurring after church. The Church's General Relief Society President is coming to Oriental Mindoro to speak about malnutrition. We had 54 people at church, which was pretty terrific. Lendel, Alona, and Decker worked with us and we ended up teaching 26 people by the end of the day!

Food Adventures:

We had a pretty good chocolate "dream cake;"
I made crepes and put a lot of peanut butter and jelly on them. They were tasty!
I've also eaten a lot of eggs lately;

Spiritual Thought:

One purpose of revelation from God is to give comfort. One revelation of comfort came to the Prophet Joseph Smith when he had been wrongly imprisoned in Liberty Jail. After many months in terrible conditions, he cried out in agony and loneliness, pleading with the Lord to remember the persecuted Saints. This comforting answer came:

“ My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes ” (D&C 121:7–8).

A revelation of comfort can also come in connection with the blessings of the priesthood, either from the words spoken or from the feeling communicated in connection with the blessing. Another type of comforting revelation is the assurance received that a sin has been forgiven. This revelation, which comes after a person has completed all the steps of repentance, gives assurance that the price has been paid, that God has heard the repentant sinner, and that his or her sins are forgiven.

I'm grateful that God loves us and continues to speak with us through revelation.

I hope everyone has a great week this week. Look around and see what good things you can do for someone else this week. I found a random pineapple growing by the side of the road. I love pineapples and thought it was great.

I love you and am grateful for all your emails and messages of encouragement. Thank you!

Love,

Elder Arick Smith

We Survived Ta'al

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 16:31:17 GMT

January 19, 2020
A New Branch and a Volcano!

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta? (How are you?) I'm alive and well. It's been two weeks since we've been able to write and it has been some of the busiest two weeks of my mission!. The Ta'al volcano eruption (about 100 miles north of us) really put a damper on our P-day plans last week and we weren't allowed to write. I actually got to see the huge smoke plume. It looked a lot like a mushroom cloud. One of the Elders in our district got a good picture of it (I didn't have my camera) so I'll have to try to get a copy of that picture for you. The first day wasn't bad, but the second day, the winds changed and we had a lot of ash rain down on us. We've been told to wear masks if/when it gets bad.

If you remember two weeks ago, my companion was reallys struggling with his foot. It was very difficult for him to walk. We went to the hospital on Monday the 6th, but it was closed by the time we made it there. We had to try again the next day. He got bloodwork and medicine which was pretty expensive. He's doing much better now.

On Wednesday the 8th, I was in Socorro with Elder Westbrook and we were pretty busy. However, for whatever reason, my Tagalog was absolutely horrible the whole day. It felt like my tongue was tied up in knots. That made me worried for the next day because I had exchanges planned to be with Elder Shorts, a brand new missionary. I needed to take the lead and be able to communicate with the people we taught. I really had to humble myself that evening. On the day of our exchanges, it went great and we taught 9 different people! The day included quite a few tender mercies from God, mainly with the gift of tongues. At one lesson in particular, I didn't have any language mess ups (unlike my emails and my English) and I was able to speak clearly and smoothly without even pausing to think. It was such a great blessing to have that day and it really did help my testimony about the power of prayer and working hard for what you ask for.

The following day (January 9th) we had our interviews in Victoria with President Cuilan. He told me that I will be staying in Socorro this coming transfer and then I'll be transferred. Socorro is really starting to grow on me. I'm excited for my next adventure in 6 weeks, but I'm really going to miss this area.

We went to Victoria again on Saturday so my companion could interview two more people for baptism. That was a great experience. We then rewarded ourselves with peanut M&Ms which were amazing. We went to a nice place for lunch, too, and it was pretty good.

Sunday, January 12th, was a very special day. President Cuilan was able to make it to Socorro and formally formed the congregation into a Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. President Bigdas is the new Branch President and Brother Arnold, who helps us so much in this area, is the new Elders Quorum President. For the first time we now have a Branch Mission Leader (Bro. Chakie) who can help us coordinate appointments and exchanges, etc. It was wonderful to be a part of that and great to see so many people reaping the blessings. 54 people attended and it was determined that we need to find a bigger place to meet so everyone can fit comfortably going forward.

Our mission president, President Cuilan and his wife told us they'd like to eat with us at our apartment after church! We excused ourselves from church as quickly as we could and raced home and hurriedly cleaned the apartment! They were very generous and complimented us on the apartment, but after looking around, agreed that we should definitely look for a nicer place to live. Sister Cuilan was complimentary of the small meal we made (including brown rice) but I could tell she definitely would have preferred standard white rice. At about 1:00 PM on Sunday afternoon, the Ta'al volcano erupted. We didn't realize it or hear it at the time, but again, saw the smoke and clouds that afternoon.

We had to stay inside for all but an hour on Monday because of the dangers of ashfall. I kept myself busy by watching some church movies: 17 Miracles, Ephraim's Rescue, and the movie about the Salt Lake City Temple (Mountain of the Lord). Those are pretty great movies.

The following day, we had a combined District Council and Zone Council in Victoria and we talked about using our time wisely to visit and find everyone that you should be visiting and finding. Because of transfers, I said goodbye to Elder Valencia in case I don't see him (but I hope I do because he is great). We ate some good food at the same place we ate after the baptismal interviews. A lot of people have expressed their astonishment that I am not getting transferred. I guess I will have been in Socorro for six months by the end of next transfer, so that's a pretty long time.

We've had a lot of ups and downs meeting with people. Some are interested and other long-term investigators have expressed their desire to no longer meet with us. It's hard to see some of them go away after we've spent so much time with them and prayed so much for them. We have several people slowly progressing toward baptism. Many of the families here, members and non-members, really struggle with the Word of Wisdom (drinking coffee, tea, alcohol, smoking, etc.) We will continue to work with them.

We were having a pretty normal day this past Friday until we went to visit Mildred and her family. They weren't home, but there but there was a lady pumping water and she reminded me of the lady in 17 Miracles (from the movie I watched earlier this week). We spoke with her and she really had a breakdown. She is in a really difficult place and said that her husband doesn't love her any more and that she spends all of her time and energy taking care of her children and cleaning the home. She cried and we were able to listen to her for a while. We gave her a Book of Mormon and shared our testimonies that God is watching out for her and is aware of her challenges. It ended up being a very positive experience. God works in unusual ways to lead us to the people who really need a little bit of extra help and support.

There's not much else to share. We had another good Sunday and it was great to see our official Branch in operation. We even had a Branch Mission meeting to discuss missionary work. Progress is a terrific thing.

Food Adventures:

Brother Arnold cooked some Tilapia (fish) for us. I'm not a big fan, but it wasn't terrible, either.

I tried making barbeque chicken with a pre-flavored chicken, but it didn't work out.

I've also had a lot of past lately. Maybe that's why my Mission President said I am looking "fuller." :)

Spiritual Thought:

" Behold, verily I say unto you, that these are the words of the Lord your God. Wherefore, labor ye in my vineyard for the last time - for the last time call upon the inhabitants of the earth. " (D&C 43:25-28)

In the past month or so we have seen 2 typhoons and a Volcano eruption in my mission alone. These have been good reminders to the people of our area that we need to repent and get our lives pointed toward God. It is an amazing time to serve the Lord as a missionary and to declare a warning voice that the signs of the Second Coming prophesied in the scriptures are taking place. People must know by our voices that this life, right now, is " the time to prepare to meet God ." (Alma 34:32)

Thank you all for all your love and for your emails and prayers! It is greatly appreciated. I love you all!

-Elder Smith

Welcome 2020!

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 14:09:36 GMT

January 5, 2020
A Brand New Year!

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta? (How are you?) We've had a busy and eventful week this week. On Monday, we had a District activity in Bansud. We went to the beach and a recent convert fed us some good food. We played spike-ball and Frisbee and it rained a lot. We also stopped in Pinamalayan after the activity and got some ice cream at 7Eleven. We made it back to Socorro and had dinner with Brother Arnold and his mom and it was great because we had a pretty good dinner and some sparkling grape juice. After the dinner we weren't able to share a gospel message because his mom is very very Catholic and doesn't want to hear the message. But, it's good to form a relationship and she may have a change of heart some day.

On the last day of 2019, we tried to talk to as many people as we could but there really aren't many people still in Socorro at this time of year. They all seem to leave to be with family in other parts of the Philippines. Our curfew was 6:00 pm that night. On the plus side, we got to call our families on the 1st! It was cool to see my family as they went into the new year, even though I had already been in 2020 for about 14 hours! Wednesday was also my official 5-month mark on my mission. It's crazy how fast time goes by.

We went on missionary exchanges in Victoria on Thursday. I was with Elder Augustine and Elder Alvarez was in Socorro with Elder Shorts. Most of the day I felt pretty sick and had a ginormous headache. But, I was very happy with how blessed I was with the gift of tongues for at least the first part of the day. God is blessing me beyond my own abilities to understand and speak Tagalog!

On Friday we helped a member in Victoria rebuild their house that was destroyed by typhoon Tisoy. We did as much as we could by helping with the concrete, brick, bamboo, and the tin roof. It was difficult but gratifying work. They thanked us by feeding us a little food. We ended up getting back to Socorro fairly late in the day and just ate Angel's Burgers and went home. It was great to be able to help someone who needed it.

We weren't able to work very much at all on Saturday because Elder Alvarez has a boil on his foot and it was too painful for him to walk. A local member dropped off some supplies and sandpaper at our house. I'm in the middle of a project making bamboo cups and dinner plates. While Elder Alvarez rested, I was also able to read quite a few chapters of the Book of Mormon

The official Branch organization we were expecting didn't take place yesterday. Scheduling here in the Philippines is a little different than back home. They think nothing of postponing an event 2 or 3 or 10 times. We had a little over 30 people at church and watched a special broadcast to tell all the members how ministering, Come Follow Me, and the new youth program should be used in this new year.

Food Adventures:

I ate a lot of Sopas (like a chicken noodle soup...sort of). Pretty tasty. I also ate an obnoxiously huge fried hunk of pork fat . . . bigger than my fist (called lechon).

Spiritual Thought:

" Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy. " The Prophet Joseph Smith once said, " Happiness is the object and the design of our existence... " So, how can we obtain real happiness? Some key principles are:

Principle # 1-The true key to happiness is to labor for the happiness of others.

Jesus taught " He who seeketh to save his life, shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for my sake, shall find it. " President Gordon B. Hinckley, said that " service is the best medicine for self-pity, selfishness, despair and loneliness. Our opportunities to serve are limitless. Each day, look for ways to gladden hearts, to say kind words, to perform labors for others that they cannot do for themselves, to share the gospel. "

Principle # 2-We will experience real happiness when we develop an attitude of gratitude.

In your prayers, when you spend more time to thank the Lord for everything you have, you will find that there are a lot of things we should be thankful for. Elder David A. Bednar once said, " A grateful person is rich in contentment. An ungrateful person suffers in the poverty of discontentment. "

Principle # 3-Repentance is a painful process, but it leads to lasting peace and happiness.

The experience of Alma the Younger illustrates this principle. (See Alma 36:18-21) So, if there is something bothering you, use the Atonement of Jesus Christ! " Such repentance and obedience are absolutely essential for the Atonement to work its complete miracle in your life. " (Elder Richard G. Scott)

In summary, real happiness comes from obeying the commandments of God! King Benjamin taught, " And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; And if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending HAPPINESS... " (Mosiah 2:41)

" The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. When the focus of our lives is in God's plan of salvation . . . and Jesus Christ and His Gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening or not happening in our lives! " (President Russell M. Nelson)

We can experience real joy and happiness if we apply these principles in our lives. We also testify that Jesus Christ is the source of Joy, if we put Him as the center of our lives, we will find joy.

I love you all and I hope you have a great new year!

Sincerely,

Elder Smith

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 16:28:09 GMT

December 29, 2019
Christmas Week

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas season and hope everyone has a good new year. We've had a good week of work. It' hasn't been too busy or too slow.

We started out the week by going to C alapan to get Elder Alvarez some contact lenses. Since we were already there, we decided to have some fun. We ate at McDonalds, went to PureGold, bought some Coke Zero and some boneless chicken! We also ate some expensive pizza at a nice pizza place (I really miss American pizza). During the van ride home, I had some of the worst car sickness I've had in quite a while. I survived . . . barely. That's what vans will do to you sometimes here. LOL

We had District Council in Victoria the following day and because my companion is the District Leader, we got to stay for a baptismal interview for the Victoria missionaries.

Another typhoon, "Ursula," rolled across the Philippines just in time for Christmas. We made our preparations and stayed indoors all day on Christmas to ride out the storm. It was fun to open Christmas packages from our families while we were hunkering down. I got all kinds of good stuff like mashed potatoes, SPAM, some sweet-looking ties, soup mix, etc. It was pretty great. My favorite was probably my Iron Man / Spider Man "EDITH" glasses. I made Italian sausage soup from the mix I got in my Christmas package. Combined with some mashed potatoes, it was a pretty wonderful Christmas meal. The roof leaked and soaked my bed and I spent most of the day trying to dry everything out.

The Typhoon hit the southern portion of our island (Mindoro) so we still had electricity, etc. We got to call our families the morning of December 26th since that was our families' Christmas night. It was a great blessing to be able to talk to our families. Friday and Saturday were regular working days.

We let a lot of people know about church, but I worried that not a lot of people would be able to make it to church. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we actually had quite a few people at church (just over 50!), including a lot of local leadership from the region. They were there to announce that next week, our little group here in Socorro will officially become a Branch of the Church!!! I'm very excited for all the people in Socorro to be able to function with their own leadership and their own budget and church callings, etc. The rest of the day we went to visit people and had a pretty late night and didn't get home until just before curfew.

We had a cool experience this week. We were walking around and I started noticing a lot of flashing lights. Apparently it's fire-fly season here! Each evening this week we've seen thousands and thousands of rapidly flashing fire flies in trees and flying around. It's amazing. (I tried to take several pictures and videos, but my camera doesn't do well in low light.)

Food Adventures:

It was a good week of food adventures, including great Christmas goodies like mashed potatoes and I talian sausage soup. We made Chicken Alfredo with the boneless chicken we bought in Calapan. It was pretty great!

Spiritual Thought:

In Alma chapter 47, Amalickiah is a bad guy who tries to entice Lehonti to speak with him with subtlety and persistence. Lehonti initially recognized that Amalikiah is a bad guy with bad intentions, but then eventually gives in because of Amalakiah's persistence. Lehonti suffers death at Amalakiah's hand. Satan, our adversary, is very similar. He will try to make us think he is acting for our benefit. He will try to minimize the negative effects of acting against God's commandments. He is very patient and very persistent. This will continue until it is too late. Giving in to Satan will only lead to physical or spiritual death. We need to stay vigilant and stay as far away from the adversary as we can!

Thanks to everyone for the support in all my struggles and challenges. I appreciate your help and your prayers and your letters.

I love you all!

-Elder Smith

The Week Before Christmas

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 14:12:48 GMT

December 22, 2019
Christmas Season in Socorro

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas season! We were pretty busy this week and managed to get a lot done. Christmas here in Socorro is pretty nice and people are generally not too busy to meet with us. We still don't have plans for Christmas day and we haven't been invited for any special meals or anything, but we're glad we get to be missionaries and be able to remind others that Christ is the truly important part of Christmas.

We had a lot of success teaching people on Monday. Normally Mondays are our Preparation Day (P-Day) but it seemed to be the best day to meet with people last week so we spent most of the day teaching. It was pretty great.

We traveled to Matulatula again this week. It's a really long journey up the mountain and it takes a lot of time and money to get there, but we have a few people we're teaching there and a few referrals from family members who live in Socorro. (I've included some pictures of the view from the mountains of Matulatula. It's a very impressive sight.)

At District Council meeting, we were told to seriously start looking for a new place to live because all of our

leaders think it would be for the best. We looked most of the day but didn't have much luck. Our districts got switched around, so now we are in a district with just the Victoria missionaries and are no longer with the Pinamalayan sisters. On Wednesday we were able to deliver bigas (bags of rice) to some people in need after the bagyo (typhoon). It was nice to be able to do that for Christmas.

By Thursday, we thought we found a house, but long story short, that place is no longer an option. We also had a Christmas party with our church group. It wasn't really the biggest or best party, but it wasn't bad. It looked like everyone had fun and I'm glad that it happened so the group could have some fun together.

A lot of our time this week was spent trying to help Elder Alvarez get familiar with the area. That meant a lot of walking and a lot of introducing him to people. Oh, and I let Elder Alvarez cook the rice on Friday and after the prayer it was a great surprise to be able to eat crunchy rice. LOL! Oh well.

We made our Saturday rounds to visit as many people as we could to remind them about church. We had Brother Joey and Arnold working with us and it was truly a great thing to have members working

with us. (I invite everyone to try and work with the missionaries a little more and to help them out where you can.) W e ended up with about 31 people at church on Sunday which was pretty good for Socorro during Christmas because not many people are actually still here during the Christmas season. We were able to have quite a few families visited by sending some members to visit them as we visited other people.

Food Adventures:

In addition to the crunchy rice we ate :) I think I'm getting used to the local fast-food. Angel's Burger is definitely not the best, but they have good hot sauce. If you put enough hot sauce on your burger, you can't really taste the burger.

Spiritual Thought:

We used 3 Nephi 11: 37-41 quite a bit this week to explain that we must have a strong foundation in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

37 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things.

38 And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

39 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.

40 And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.

41 Therefore, go forth unto this people, and declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth.

If we can become like a little child (child-like, not childish) we can have faith and trust in God's plan for us. After doing these things, we need to help declare the gospel message to others . During this Christmas season, it's really important to remember that we need to have a strong foundation in Jesus Christ and everything we do should be focused around Him.

I hope you all have a great Christmas week. Be well and remember to focus on Christ and His life of service and sacrifice.

Love,

Elder Smith

San Jose Zone Conference

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 14:31:44 GMT

December 15, 2019
Traveling & Christmas Party

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta po kayo? (How are you?) This week was nice and busy and we started the week out by teaching a few lessons. It was good to be able to speak with people and see how they are recovering after the storm. Everyone is very self reliant and not many people wanted our help with clean-up.

We had a Zone Council meeting and were told that our district needed to come up with a skit for the upcoming Zone Conference / Christmas Party to be held in San Jose (on the south side of the island of Mindoro). We worked on Wednesday and then Elder Kirk and I spent a while coming up with a song for our Zone. When we woke up the next morning, Elder Kirk had made up a completely new song. Oh well.

We headed to San Jose on Thursday. There were 16 missionaries in a small van and it was a 5-hour drive. I am not a fan of that means of transportation. However, we drove through a really beautiful part of the country. The ocean is so blue and the scenery was amazing. We also got to go to a "PUREGOLD" supermarket. It was like a mini Wal-Mart and they had all the good things. All the other missionaries seemed to be familiar with the store, so I can't wait until I'm in an area with a PUREGOLD. We made it to San Jose and stayed the night in the senior couple's house. We also practiced our skits and songs for the Conference / Party the next day.

On Friday, we headed straight to Zone Conference and went over the scripture (Alma 18: 19-41). They cooked a whole pig for the Christmas party. Very tasty. We then had the skits and contests. One contest was eating donuts hanging on a string. My team ultimately lost, but I did the best I could by devouring the whole donut. I looked a lot like a T-Rex, both in looks and speed. We then performed the 12 Days of Christmas (12 Weeks of Training rendition) and we won the "best polished" award. It was awesome. Later we did a white-elephant gift exchange and the Sister missionary who got the Monopoly set I bought was super happy. My gift I was a couple of coke drinking glasses. Not bad.

On Saturday we traveled back to our area and then worked a bit. I used the Alma 18 scripture as a way of telling a less-active member that she is doing a great work, no matter how small her actions feel. She has done a lot to bring others back to church and that is a great work.

We had about 29 people at church, which wasn't bad, but it could definitely be better. We're looking forward to a full week of work this next week so we can try to really make a difference. We met with the Alda family and taught a lesson about the Word of Wisdom (D&C 89). Even though it may have seemed somewhat scary to teach to a family who is struggling with those issues, it was a great lesson that ended with both me and Elder Alvarez bearing testimony of the great blessings the Word of Wisdom brings. I was also able to tell the family that I have seen how much damage and heartache can happen when God's law of health isn't followed. By the end of the lesson, there was a change (although a small change) Nanay Alda's countenance.

Food Adventures:

I took a picture of the weird banana ketchup stuff that so many people seem to like here. Elder Alvarez loves it. Also, I found Jalapeno Cheetos!!! I love those things.

Spiritual thought:

This week I learned that by small acts, like inviting others to church or changing a lesson plan according to a prompting by the Spirit, we can change the lives of people around us. Alma 37:6 " ...by small and simple things are great things brought to pass... "

Stay happy and safe this week.

Love,

Elder Smith

Typhoon Tisoy

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 14:24:40 GMT

December 8, 2019
A Typhoon and a New Companion

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta? (How are you?) We started out the week by trying to escape the wrath of a massive hurricane/typhoon/bagyo. We left the low-lying area of Socorro and headed to the missionaries' apartment in Victoria. At first, we tried staying up to witness the storm because we were told it would hit us at night, but after waiting for many hours, it didn't come, so we went to sleep. I woke up very early the next morning in a massive puddle of water that was coming from the window. The bagyo was really starting to pick up. For the next few hours, we watched the storm blow trees sideways and almost rip the roofs off of the houses surrounding the one we were in. Even in that chaos, I went to lay down and then woke up a few hours later when the storm had passed. The other missionaries I was with gave me a little grief for being able to sleep through a typhoon.

Most of the roofs and smaller trees gave way and accepted defeat. I went outside a little while later with Elder Kirk because everyone else was too cautious (scared) to leave the house. The rest of the day went well and we were told to stay indoors, just in case, for the rest of the day. The amount of destruction is really humbling. I learned banana trees are surprisingly fragile. Many of the peoples' homes have sustained some damage. We're going to be helping out Sister Sael from the church on Wednesday. (Many of the others we've spoken with have not taken us up on our offers to help. I guess they're used to these storms and know what they need to do to repair their homes.)

The day after the typhoon, I busted my chin by being clumsy. I decided I needed stitches, so we headed for the Hospital in Calapan. After most of the day waiting, we finally got in and the doctor put a piece of tape on my chin and said that they didn't want to put stitches in it because they have a lot of people waiting. We left and I just decided to just pray really hard and do the rest of the bandaging myself. I didn't want to use the super glue here because it would most likely give me cancer. We got home with enough time to pack up Elder Park's stuff, but we still didn't have any power (it got really hot in our apartment).

Transfers:

The next day we left at 7:00 am for the Calapan pier where I said goodbye to Elder Park and said hello to my new companion, Elder Alvarez. Elder Alvarez is pretty cool. He's from Denver Colorado and has been on his mission for about 1 year and 7 months. They made some adjustments to our District boundaries and Elder Alvarez is the new District Leader. The other missionaries in our District are the four Sister missionaries in Pinamalayan. Elder Alvarez is not a big fan of our apartment . . . so it's not just me. He said we might start looking for a new place.

The next couple of days we worked as hard as we could because we were told our mission president, President Cuilan, would be coming to Socorro to see if we could become an official Branch (congregation) of the Church. After working super hard and having a lot of help from God, we were able to have 49 people in total at church!! We usually only have 13-16 people, so that was a really impressive total. We had an amazing turnout and it was a great experience to see people come to church that haven't been there in over a year. Maybe it was the storm that softened the hearts of the people, or maybe it was just God's help, but it was great. (Unfortunately, President Cuilan wasn't able to make it, but that's okay.)

Food Adventures:

Not much to report this week, but I'm starting to enjoy the local food a bit more. We had a delicious noodle dish with chicken and vegetables. I'm not sure which part of the chicken it was, but I'm trying not to think about that. It was very tasty.

Spiritual Thought:

I've been thinking a lot about the power of the Book of Mormon. It's been crazy for me to see how daily reading of the Book of Mormon has changed my life and the lives of those that I have had the privilege of teaching here. I can't say in what specific ways my life has been changed and I don't think I can explain it in a brief email. But, I can say that if you seek after Christ and read from the Book of Mormon with a true desire to learn, then there will be a change. A change in the best possible ways. I can finally say now that I have had moments where I'm reading and I don't want to put it down because I am truly enjoying every aspect of the change in my heart. I urge everyone to search for that desire and to read about Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon.

Thank you all for everything and I hope you all have a wonderful start to your Christmas season.

Love,

Elder Smith

District Activity & Evacuation

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 14:46:17 GMT

December 2, 2019
Get to Higher Ground

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta?! This week was a pretty good one. I don't have much time to write today because we're under orders to gather a 72-hour kit and a few other necessities in a backpack and evacuate to Victoria. Typhoon Tisoy (also known as Kammuri) is bearing down on the Philippines and will be here soon.

Interviews and Tortillas

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 13:50:11 GMT

November 24, 2019
President Cuilan & A Package from Home

Hello Everyone!

I don't have very much time to write this week, but I'll try to mention the big things.

First, we had interviews with our Mission President, President Cuilan. It was really wonderful to speak with him. President Cuilan was amazing and he's such a Christ-like man. I think that's the highest praise you can give someone. He helped put a lot of things into perspective for me and helped me see what the future of my missionary service might look like. Don't tell anyone, but it looks like I may have a new companion in a couple of weeks.

Exchanges in Pola:

Pola is a beautiful area (just east of Socorro) with some great people and cheap food. On Thursday, we went on companionship exchanges and we were able to talk with quite a few people. My Tagalog is not great, but it's definitely getting better. We had some nice pancit bihon (noodles and "rice sticks") and ate food at a wedding. We told the ate (teenage girl or older sister) at the wedding that we would take any food that she wanted to feed us. She said sige (alright) and came back with all the food in the world. We ate a lot of food and then told her we were full and then she just asked why we were full. It would be easy to get really fat here.

The temperature has been pretty cool lately. It got into the upper 70s and it was genuinely chilly. I may be getting used to the sweltering heat and humidity after all.

Saturday we taught a few people and told them to be at the church at 9:00 to travel to our District Conference. However, we were given bad information (that's frustrating) and our group leader, Joey, told us on Saturday evening that everyone was meeting at 8:30. Sunday morning we woke up to another text message with another change saying that we were meeting at the gas station on the other side of town and not at the church. Most people here don't have phone numbers so we couldn't let everyone know about the changes. It was very frustrating, to say the least.

Our District Meeting in Victoria was good. There were 400 or more people present! We had 3 investigators come and only one of them fell asleep. President Cuilan gave a great talk (see my spiritual thought, below).

My family sent a nice, big package of goodies and awesomeness! It was great to receive it and great to eat some familiar foods. I've already eaten lots of beef jerky and 1 1/2 packages of tortillas. :) They sent a few necessities and it's great to know my family is thinking about me and wanting me to be comfortable and happy.

Food Adventures:

We found actual Tabasco sauce! I now own both the red and the green bottle of Tabasco and it is absolutely delicious on our fresh eggs in the morning.
We are having a district activity later today. I've been told that Sister McGuire (who is headed home this transfer) is bringing some fajitas! I'm putting that on this list even though we haven't eaten it yet. :)
This week was actually a pretty boring food week, but sometimes that's a good thing.

Spiritual thought:

President Cuilan was presiding at the District Conference on Sunday. He said that he was a convert to the church at age 17. He met his wife because they served in the same mission and he got married 5 months after he got home. He worked for a bit and only made 2000 pisos a month (about $40 US) to support his family. He learned the importance of education through the church and decided to move and pursue an education. So, at 25 years old, with a wife and two kids, he decided to move across the Philippines and go to school. He got a job after staying true to the law of the Sabbath (not working on Sunday) and was able to go to school from 7:00 AM - 1:00 PM and work from 1:00 PM - 9:00 PM. His job was much better and he was making a lot more money than before. He said that without the church he would still be shining shoes today to provide for his family. The Gospel of Christ changes people from the inside out. When we apply the principles of the Gospel, we will be blessed in many different aspects of our lives.

Thank you all for everything you do for me. I love you all!!!

Elder Smith

Zone Conference & Exchanges

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 15:11:20 GMT

November 17, 2019
There is Work Enough To Do

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all doing well!

I've been very, very tired lately. I'm having a difficult time falling asleep and I usually wake up at 5:00. I'm not a fan of that schedule. This week was a busy week . . . not terrible but not super great, either. We're working to find out why so many people stay home from church and perpetually have so many fun issues to deal with.

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday in Calapan, north of our area. That meant a lot of travel, but the Assistants to the President picked us up half way so we didn't have to spend too much money on transportation. At the Conference, we talked about the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and discussed the principles we can learn from that parable:

We can all get the same reward for working hard in God's Kingdom;
We must do all we can to help with the work;
Never waste or hide the talents God has given you;
You can benefit from the talents others have been blessed with. We need others' help and need to let them exercise their talents;

It was cool to hear everything at Zone Conference and to be able to see some different people again. We also found out that our Mission President, President Cuilan, won't be coming to our group in Socorro until December 1st. We also went to McDonald's (a.k.a. McDo) and I may or may not have spent a goodly amount of pesos on food there.

Later in the week we extended baptismal invitations to quite a few people in Romnick's family and they all accepted the invitation and decided to work hard toward that goal. However, we also lost one of our most promising investigators because he said he was too busy with school to read the Book of Mormon and to meet with us. So that was sad. We visited Roxanne who seemed much happier than usual. It's nice to see people change because of the Gospel of Christ.

Water Adventures:

I thought I wouldn't have to report on this again, but our water went out again, even with a new electric pump. One of our mad drunk neighbors (he was both mad and drunk) helped us by explaining how the pump's engine actually gets water into the tank. We should have water going forward now that we understand the system.

I went on companionship exchanges in Pola with Elder Gutierrez. He is a native Filipino and doesn't speak English. So, in one form or another, I spoke Tagalog the whole day. The day went somewhat smoothly, but I ended up with a pretty big headache. That was a lot of Tagalog! We taught some lessons and I got to know a few people that I hadn't met before on my previous exchanges in Pola. Oh, and I put up some Christmas decorations for some of the members there. 'Tis the Season!

I also thought there wasn't going to be another list of wack food adventures for a while, but my dinner in Pola came in clutch to provide a terrible food story:

Food Adventures

Fermented rice soup (lomi) in Pola. I can barely describe it to you without getting nauseated. It was a slimy rice soup that had the most terrible texture.
We went to Angel's Hamburgers and they use an odd banana sauce on their hamburgers, like a super-weird substitute for ketchup.
Corned beef with soy sauce and pepper - not too bad!
We're back in budget mode, so I reluctantly bought more pancake mix. I'm getting sick of it, but it's a good way to eat without spending a fortune. If only they sold syrup here...

Sunday's church attendance was back down to just 16 people total. So, we had a little talk with the members and let them know that President Cuilan is coming on December 1st. We encouraged them to step up their game and do their ministering assignments, etc. We're hoping that Socorro will become an official Branch of the church, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Spiritual Thoughts:

“ True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior... The study of the doctrines of the Gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior. … That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel. ” Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said:

"We need to be constantly reminded of the eternal reasons behind the things we are commanded to do.

The "what" is important in our work, and we need to attend to it…

The "what"… teaches us what to do. The "why" inspires our souls.

The "what" informs, but the "why" transforms."

It's good for me to remember the "why" of missionary work. With all the setbacks, it's important to notice the good things that are happening and the positive changes people are making in their lives.

Thank you again for all of your prayers, your emails, and your support. I'm fortunate to have the support of wonderful family and friends. Thank you!

Love,

Elder Arick Smith

A Deceptively Busy Week

Mon, 11 Nov 2019 15:18:25 GMT

November 10, 2019
Mosquito Season

Hello Everyone!

On one hand, it didn't feel like much happened this week. But, looking back on it, we did quite a lot! We had District Council again on Monday. During the meeting, we brought up the problem we are having with decreasing attendance at church each week. Rather than just saying "oh, that's hard" and "we'll pray for the situation to get better," we decided to make a strong effort to go to each of the families on our list of inactive church members and make contact with them.

So, that's what we did a lot of this week. We did a "Celestial Walk" which is just saying "hi" and talking with them and asking how we can help them. During our experience, we got to help people with their laundry, we gave people doughnuts, and also played "pro ball" (proselyting basketball). We saw a big change in quite a few people by the end of the week and, when we asked them if they would come to church, most of them actually said yes. God magnified our efforts.

Speaking of "pro ball," we played an epic game with a few teenagers and they agreed that if we won, they would go to church. We cruised out to an early lead but they quickly caught up and then passed us. We were playing to 13 baskets and it was a nail-biter, but with church on the line, I threw up the last shot and we won with a score of 13 - 12! It was pretty cool. (Unfortunately, the guys ended up not coming to church anyway, but it was a good experience.)

On Sunday, we woke up and were told that we had to go to Pinamalayan for church. (When we got there, we were told that we didn't actually have to go until after church, so it was actually just Elder Park jumping the gun and misunderstanding something.) Anyway, before we went to Pinamalayan we checked out the attendance at church and we already had 5 investigators there and a couple of the inactive members. We were told that there were 33 people at church in total with many of them being inactive members that haven't been in over 8 months or more! That attendance number more than doubled the 13 and 15 we had last week and the week before, and we still didn't even have the Na-abays, Aldas, some Panganibans, and a few more people that usually come. So, next week when President Cuilan (our Mission President) comes to visit our group, we will hopefully have enough people for him to officially take us from being a "Group" status to an official "Branch."

I've noticed a serious increase in the number of mosquitoes lately. The wet season has begun. I now have 19 bites on my right leg and 16 on my left. I think the mosquitoes translate the word "deet" as "delicious" in the Philippines.

We had a pretty crazy adventure this week. the Na-abay family let us know that their extended family (Brother Na-abay's brother) lives in a place called Matulatula. We had no idea where that was but wanted to give it a try. It turned out to be an epic and somewhat costly adventure. None of the regular transportation companies wanted to take us there. We finally convinced someone and we ended up going through heavy brush and up into a mountainous area just west of Pola. It took us forever, but we finally found the Na-abay's brother and got to teach them a little about the Gospel. The other people we spoke with were very receptive to our message, but I'm not sure we can make that long trip very often. It was just as crazy trying to get back to Socorro.

Water Adventures:

As of Thursday, our water is working again! The landlord installed an electric pump that we have to plug in when we want water. We had to run the system for quite a while to flush out all the dirt, mud, and silt. But, we're happy to have running water again!!

Spiritual Thought:

This week I was reading the scriptures in Mosiah chapter 23. The Lamanite army was about to destroy the people of God. They prayed that the Lamanites would have their hearts softened so they won't destroy them, and it worked.

25 For behold, it came to pass that while they were in the land of Helam, yea, in the city of Helam, while tilling the land round about, behold an army of the Lamanites was in the borders of the land.

26 Now it came to pass that the brethren of Alma fled from their fields, and gathered themselves together in the city of Helam; and they were much frightened because of the appearance of the Lamanites.

27 But Alma went forth and stood among them, and exhorted them that they should not be frightened, but that they should remember the Lord their God and he would deliver them.

28 Therefore they hushed their fears, and began to cry unto the Lord that he would soften the hearts of the Lamanites, that they would spare them, and their wives, and their children.

29 And it came to pass that the Lord did soften the hearts of the Lamanites...

I thought it was cool because I do that as a missionary a bunch when people are being kind of hardhearted. We encourage people to pray to God so He will help them through their challenges. We also encourage them to pray to know the truth and that their own hearts will be softened. God can work miracles in our lives if we just ask in faith.

Food Adventures:

I ate a lot of plain noodles this week. I just didn't bother to season them.
I'm running low on my packets of instant potatoes that I brought from home. I'm going to miss those.
We bought some eggs (chicken) and those have been good.
I also ate some bread to settle my stomach. I ate something bad and got sick for a day. I'm doing better now and I'm trying to take good care of myself.

I hope you all have a great week. Thank you again for your prayers and for everything you do for me.

Love,

Elder Smith

Disappointment and Cancellations . . . and Serious Sogginess

Mon, 04 Nov 2019 15:01:47 GMT

November 3, 2019
Cats and Tree Branches

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta? (How are you?) This week was filled with more disappointment and disarray. Almost all of our scheduled appointments "punted" or fell through. But, other than that, we had a pretty great week. We were fortunate to have a few people who are investigating the church make it to church yesterday. A few of the people we have been meeting with let us know this week that they were no longer interested. That's disappointing, but to look on the bright side, not all of our investigators dropped us.

We traveled to Pinamalayan for our District Counsel this week and that meeting went well. We got to eat at a great place that was much cheaper than the food in Socorro.

Water Adventures:

I was so excited last week to report that our water situation was fixed and that we had access to running water in the apartment. That lasted two days. The senior missionary couple that is assigned to assist all of the missionaries in Mindoro have been pretty sick for a couple of weeks (and they're returning home soon) so I'm not sure when we'll have water to wash our clothes & dishes. We'll stick with less-than-ideal well water for now.

While that probably sounds like a complaint, I'm honestly grateful for what we have in Socorro. Where else can you just pick coconuts out of trees when you're feeling peckish? Where else can you carry a dope mga itak (machete) around. I'm definitely grateful for what I have been given and for the chance I have to live here in Socorro. On an unrelated note, I have gotten very good at husking coconuts and opening them with my sword, I mean machete. :)

Food Adventures:

The Pangeiban family was nice enough to feed us a meal. They gave us green beans and rice served with 2 or 3-inch whole fish. It was . . . challenging to eat.
I made some pancit canton, which is a noodle dish. I didn't have much to flavor it with, so I used Sweet Baby Rays barbecue sauce.
On P-Days, I often get a bag of about 10 donuts. They're pretty terrific.

I'm pretty sure cats are evil. The Pangeiban family has a cat that looks like a bobcat. It was getting too close to Elder Park (who is really allergic) and I tried to move the cat a few inches. It switched to super-crazy mode and attacked my foot! No blood was drawn, but I won't be petting that cat any time soon.

On Wednesday, Elder Park was not feeling very well. We ended up staying in the apartment most of the day. I got to read about 50 pages of the Book of Mormon. I'm really grateful for that opportunity. I did my best to really read the words and make sure I was paying attention. It was a good experience.

I found out another reason the church members here in Socorro are not very active in attending church. Several years ago, after a youth activity, one of the young women was involved in a trike accident which resulted in her death. There is still a lot of resentment and confusion surrounding that event. There are many obstacles to building up the church in this area.

On Friday, the "Day of the Dead" here in the Philippines, we went to a a couple of cemeteries in our area and in Pinamalayan. We found one older lady who is interested in the Gospel and who the Sister missionaries will teach. I had an unfortunate incident trying to avoid a really big puddle (kind of a small lake) since it had been raining a lot. While inching my way along a cemetery wall, I tried to grab a tree limb for support. (I even tested the limb a bit and it felt strong enough.) When I put all my weight on it, the branch snapped like toothpick and I went flying backward into the 12-inch-deep puddle. No one got pictures, thank goodness, but the other missionaries and members that were with us were kind of amused. We were too far from the apartment so I had to walk around very wet the rest of the day. :(

Spiritual Thought:

I read the following in one of my books recently -

Malachi 3:3

“He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

"This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at the next Bible Study.

"That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. She watched the silversmith carefully. He held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up, and as he did so, he explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot and then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

"She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

"The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy – I know when I see my image in it.'"

Remember, if you're feeling the heat of the fire in your life, o ur Heavenly Father is holding you there and is in control. He will not let you stay in the fire too long. He will keep an eye on you and will watch you until He sees His image in you.

I hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you for your emails and especially for your prayers!

Love,

Elder Arick Smith

Busy Week of Working Hard

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 13:38:27 GMT

October 28, 2019
A Long, Busy Week

Hello Everyone!

It's been a really long, busy week this week. It's difficult to remember everything we did. Also, it feels like some of the things that happened this week took place several weeks ago.

This week started out with us following up with the Na-abay family. Its important for us to re-teach them all of the lessons to make sure they have a good, solid grasp of all the important principals. We were pleased that they are reading the scriptures and making good progress.

On a more discouraging note, Tatay Alda's baptism fell through. He was supposed to be baptized on Saturday, but he was in Najuan for work and it looks like he may be there almost every day until February. We will try and work something out so he doesn't get lost or forgotten. We would hate to lose him after he has been taught for almost 5 years by other missionaries.

This week was the official end of my first transfer (six weeks) in the field. Although the days feel long and are definitely tiring, time really has flown by so far and I have no doubt the rest of my mission will be the same way. We went to Victoria on Tuesday to meet with the district and say good bye to the departing missionaries and meet the new ones. Elder Park and I will be working together for another transfer. Our communication seems to be getting much better.

Very few people came to church on Sunday. It was raining pretty good, so I'm sure that was a factor, but it was discouraging to see so few there. Our Mission President is going to be traveling to our area next week and we're hopeful that more people make it to church. (Some of the group leaders have identified a possible new building to meet in for church. It's much nicer, but it's not any larger than our current space. We usually need a little more room, so I hope they keep looking for other options.)

Good news! We finally got our water fixed and we have running water in the apartment! (The bathroom faucet isn't working, so we still have to take bucket showers.) We can wash dishes and do our laundry in much cleaner water now.

Spiritual Thought:

One of the lessons we teach to people is about God's Plan of Salvation. We have a laminated sheet to help explain it, and on the back are a few great questions like: "What is the purpose of this life?" One of the answers to this question is Alma 34:32:

"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."

When we teach people about God's plan, we say that we must do all we can, that we must really follow the ebanghelyo (gospel) and the doktrina (doctrine) of Jesus Christ. Doing all we can doesn't just mean being a good person. Following the gospel and doctrine of Christ isn't just a simple "one and done" task. We must do all we have been told to do and we must endure all that God wants us to endure, but we must endure well .

“And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.” - D&C 121:7–8

Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught that “Part of enduring well consists of being meek enough amid our suffering to learn from our relevant experiences. Rather than simply passing through these things, they must pass through us-in ways which sanctify all these experiences for our good. Likewise, our empathy is enriched everlastingly as we comfort and assist those in the midst of ‘all these things’ which can give us experiences for our good. (D&C 122:7.)”

Food Adventures:

Because we spent too much money fixing up our apartment, our budget has been a little tight. I've been eating pancakes almost every day and I'm just about sick of them.
I may have a shawarma addiction. We go to the same place almost every day and it's so good.
We've eaten a ton of coconuts lately and I think it's starting to mess with our stomachs.
The Na-aby family had a really big papaya and gave us some. The flavor is pretty good but the texture was very slimy.

November 1st is All Saints Day and is widely celebrated here in the Philippines (similar to “Día de los Muertos” in Mexico). We've been preparing to go to a local cemetery on the 1st to hopefully teach people about how families can be together forever. I'm looking forward to seeing the traditions and speaking with the people this week.

I think I've mentioned before that the missionaries here in Socorro are allowed (and encouraged) to carry a machete. I was able to buy one the other day that is not terribly rusty and old like my last one. I'd like to get it engraved with some Baybayin characters, which is the traditional Tagalog script. I've spent some time trying to learn a little Baybayin.

Thank you all for your prayers. I know my family and I are being blessed because of your prayers and I'm very grateful.

Love,

Elder Arick Smith

The Na-aby Family

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 14:03:46 GMT

October 21, 2019
The Work is Progressing

Hello Everyone!

This week was crazy busy! And, to add to the fun, we didn't have a phone for most of the week.

The busy part of the week really started on Wednesday when we had companionship exchanges. I was leading in my area again, but this time I was with Elder Arakaki from Provo, UT. The day was pretty busy with people canceling appointments here and there, but we also got to speak with the Na-abay family to prepare them for baptism. It wasn't a bad day.

The next morning, as we approached Brother Na-aby's baptism day, is when everything started to fall apart. The adversary works hard to stop the Lord's work from progressing. On our way to Pola to finish exchanges, Elder Arakaki had the phone, but by the time we got to Pola, it was no longer in his pocket and is probably lost forever. So when Elder Park and I went back to Socorro, we learned that the soonest we could get a new phone was Saturday afternoon, after the two baptisms. After a lot of hassle trying to get baptismal clothing and trying to find a local authority to preside over the baptism, we settled on using our temple clothing for the Friday baptism and traditional baptism clothes (including a "barong" shirt) for the Saturday baptism.

If you'll remember, the Na-abys make their living taking care of a herd of pigs. Those pigs are very important, so they didn't feel they could both leave the herd at the same time and have one baptismal service together. That is definitely not ideal, but we felt we didn't have any other choice than to have two baptisms. On Friday, Brother Na-aby got baptized at Petra's pool, (the only swimming pool in the entire area). We think it was a good experience because his heart changed. He went out of his way to make arrangements so he and the rest of his family could attend his wife's baptism on Saturday! (The Na-aby's have two girls, 5 and 3, and an infant son.) They even had a nephew attend. Joey (one of the local church members) presided over both baptisms. It was a great experience and both Brother and Sister Na-abay said they felt clean after their baptisms. We also had an investigator, Tatai Alda, come on Saturday, so hopefully he had a spiritual experience, too.

There have been no baptisms in Socorro in over a year. I was able to baptize both Brother and Sister Na-aby and Elder Park confirmed them members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Sunday at church. It was a great experience and it's great to know that the work is starting to progress here.

Last week, October 7th, we had a fun district activity in Pola. We took a trike (scooter with a side-car) to the area and got to see some pretty sights by the ocean including the famous rainbow bridge. We had fun at the beach and ate some good food. It was nice to spend some time with the district.

Food Adventures:

I've been eating a lot of brown rice and making some pancakes, too;
I found Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce at the import store! It's fabulous and I could pretty much drink it straight from the bottle;
We got to eat coconut this week. The locals don't eat mature coconut (with brown husk) but that's what I'm used to. They use mature coconut meat to make gatas ng niyog (coconut milk) for cooking. They prefer to eat young coconut (with a green husk) which has more of a gooey texture.
Fortunately I didn't have to eat any blood-based food this week.

Spiritual Thought:

In an older talk by Elder Holland, he said that some missionaries may ask why missionary work isn't easy. He pointed out that salvation isn't easy. The Savior's work wasn't easy at all, so we should expect challenges as we try to help this work progress as missionaries or at home. As I thought about that, I realized that the work was never intended to be easy. We can't expect people to just line up and knock on our doors to get baptized. We need to put forth the effort and God will bless us.

My first transfer period (6 weeks) ends in three days. We have been told that Elder Park and I will likely spend one more transfer together in Socorro. Time flies - - - the days are long and the weeks are short.

I love you all and thank you for your prayers and your support.

Love,

Elder Smith

Busy Week!

Mon, 14 Oct 2019 13:21:27 GMT

October 13, 2019
The Work is Progressing

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta? (How are you?)

I'm exhausted. The days seem to take forever, but as I look back, this week was a very busy week and it went by quickly. I'm not sure how that happens, but we're getting a lot of good stuff done.

We're finding out more and more about our area. We're one of the southern-most areas in the mission and it has kind of been a neglected area in the past. Most of the missionaries who come here don't work very hard. We are starting to see some success and it sounds like our supervising missionaries don't really believe the information we're reporting. We had companionship exchanges with the Zone Leader on Wednesday and companionship exchanges with the District Leader on Friday. Hopefully they see we're working hard and starting to meet with a lot of good people.

Anyway, we've been making progress. We have met with three people now who want to be baptized. That would be pretty wonderful since no one has been baptized in this area in over a year. The Na-abay family (they are the ones who take care of the pigs) should be baptized this weekend and then Tatai Alda is scheduled to be baptized on October 26th. Two or three other people we've been meeting with are progressing and have expressed interest in getting baptized in the future.

Rat Adventures:

We still have at least one rat in our apartment. We can't seem to figure out where it's living. I was sweeping out the kitchen the other day and found some rat . . . evidence . . . under the fridge. I also found my missing hand-sanitizer there, too! I was wondering where that went. At least our rats have sanitized hands.

We got to watch General Conference Saturday and Sunday. We went to Victoria on Saturday (north-west of our area) and Pinamalayn on Sunday (south of our area). We got to watch the conference sessions in English which was really nice! Although, I am not a big fan of traveling by van. They always fit way too many people in those vans, there's no air conditioning, I tend to get a bit car-sick, and our van drivers all drive like they have a serious death-wish! They're really crazy.

Food Adventures:

We went to an import shop the other day. Although it was expensive, I bout some Krusteaz pancake mix. It's amazing.
At a different store, I splurged on what I thought was going to be some good pasta sauce. I was hoping for a great meatball-marinara flavor, but we ended up with runny, bland sauce that was an incredible disappointment.
Prepare yourselves. We ate at a church-member's house the other day and were served a blood dish. It was boiled pig's blood with liver, kidneys, intestines, veins, and all sorts of other things in it. I did my best to eat as little as possible.
We got to go to a 7-Eleven on Saturday. They had big chocolate and melon ice-cream cones for about 30 cents and I may or may not have had two of them they were so good. :)
We went to a fast-foot place called Mang Inasal and I made the mistake of eating a really hot pepper there. Did I mention it was really hot? Wow!

I still get stared at a lot here. I'm not sure what to do when people just look at me. They call me "pogi puti" (good-looking white guy). Also, several men have asked me to marry their daughters. They make their best sales pitch and I of course respectfully turn them down and try to let them know the real reason we're in Socorro. I can tell their motivations are not always great. Some of them are hoping for a steady income stream from America. It's a different world here.

For our P-Day activity today, we're traveling to Pola to have a District activity. I'm not looking forward to driving in another crazy van, but we're going to have a barbecue on the beach, so that should be a lot of fun.

I think that's it for now. Thank you for all your prayers and for the letters/emails you send to me. It means a lot!

Love,

Elder Arick Smith

Two Months!

Mon, 07 Oct 2019 13:54:51 GMT

October 7, 2019
Learning More About Socorro

Hello Everyone!

This week has been a very busy week. My health is better and we seem to be getting more things done. I've been a missionary for two months now! Can you believe it?

We got to spend Tuesday at Zone Conference in Calapan which is north of our area. My companion and I got shoved into a van for the 1.5 hour trip and I was one of five people in a row that was meant to hold three. At Zone Conference it was great to see the Mission President and a couple of my MTC buddies. It sounds like they went through some of the same things I did when they got to their areas. I think we're all adjusting okay. Training at the Zone Conference was very good, too. They fed us American-style pulled-pork sandwiches with Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce! It was amazing! We also got to go to a McDonalds in Calapan and I got a quarter pounder. The taste and the menu options were a little different, but it was great.

Many miracles are performed in our day and if you don't see them, look again and realize that they are all around you, both big and small. Just this week I've seen so many miracles. People have been healed after receiving priesthood blessings. I never thought I'd say this, but we prayed for a sick pig and the pig has been healed. (The pig is part of the livelihood of a family. If the pig died, they would probably lose their job and their house.) We were able to meet over 10 people who are interested in investigating the Gospel. We didn't do it on our own, but through following the promptings of God's Spirit regarding where to go and what to say. What a blessed time we are in no matter where we are in the world!

I'm finding out more about our area of Socorro. Apparently this area has been opened and closed a few times because of the poor decisions made by missionaries in the past. The Church completely pulled out of the area in the 90s and again a few years ago. Missionaries in the past frequently forgot why they were here and got into a lot of trouble. They even had a few members of the church assigned to watch the missionaries to let authorities know when they were up to no good. It's a very unfortunate situation, but explains so much about why the work has been so difficult in this area. Hopefully we can help to repair some of the damage that has been done.

We walked for about five hours straight on Saturday reminding people about church. We were thrilled when seven investigators showed up at church! It was great to see them there. Brother Tatai Alda now has a baptismal date. He's been struggling with asthma so we're hoping his health improves. Pray for him and that he will be able to get baptized!

I was studying one night and looked up to find a huge rat staring at me from the window sill. It was the size of a small cat and it was terrifying. When I flashed my light on it, it ran back along the thin wire connecting our apartment to a tree. Speaking of our apartment, I'm pleased to say that it now looks like a good apartment! I spent a ton of time and effort cleaning and fixing it up. We still have holes in the screens and a few other problems, but it is looking good. (Pictures below and in the gallery.)

Also, I now have a pet spider. I'm even letting it crawl on me. As long as it eats every couple of weeks, it should be happy and content. My companion has one, too and convinced me to get my own.

Spiritual Thought:

I read Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk from April's General Conference. It reminded me that I need to be bold in the words I say as I communicate the beliefs and doctrines to those in this area. When people say they know what I am saying is true and correct but they don't want to change churches (because they were born into a certain religion) I need to tell them, just like President Hinckley did, that its "not good enough" and that they need to be a part of the true Church of Jesus Christ.

Second Spiritual Thought:

From Elder Gene R. Cook's talk: " … Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, [we] say unto you, [we] cannot say the smallest part which [we] feel. ” (Alma 26:11–12, 16.)

" My brothers and sisters, we must do all that we have been counseled to do here in this conference. Let us not forget the simple truths—those godly traits, the weightier matters of the law, that have been described (see Matt. 23:23). They are the very basics, the essence of the gospel, and possession of them in great abundance by Latter-day Saints will be in the end the greatest miracle of all. Yes, miracles have not ceased. Today is a day of miracles. We believe in miracles. The Latter-day Saints may expect miracles according to their faith in Jesus Christ, the only being under heaven whereby we and all mankind may be saved (see D&C 18:23). . . "

As I've seen, miracles can and do occur in our day and time. I'm blessed to be able to see them.

Food Adventures:

McDonalds and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Pork! Wow.
Pig intestines. It was a gross as it sounds.
Homemade bihon, which is a noodle and vegetable dish. We cooked stuff! I think we used the wrong type of noodles, but it was still pretty good.
I've upgraded to brown rice. It's supposed to be much healthier for you and I'm doing everything I can to be healthy.

My Tagalog language is getting a little better. I've started the process of memorizing the lessons in Tagalog. I have a long way to go, but the Lord is helping me and I'm making progress. The sunsets here in Socorro are incredible. I've included a couple of pictures.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

I love you all!

Elder Arick Smith

Making Progress

Mon, 30 Sep 2019 14:04:57 GMT

September 30, 2019
Looking for the Good

Hello Everyone!

This week we got to travel to Pola (east of our area) on the coast. Pola has some great views of the ocean. We went on companionship exchanges with the District Leader and his companion. The guy I went with was not very motivated, but we were able to get a little bit of work done. I was probably dehydrated and had a big headache for most of the day and had to take a nap to feel better.

We've been working hard and meeting some good people. Most people are super nice and are always willing to listen for us, even if it's just for a few minutes. We have been impressed with George who has been willing to read the Bible and the Book of Mormon with his family. He has really changed his life recently and his friends are now referring to him as the "priest." He still needs to change a few things in order to get baptized, but he is making great progress. He has the strongest work ethic I've ever seen. Fortunately, he now has a katrabaho (co-worker) which should allow him to attend church on Sundays.

We dropped in on one of the investigators we've been working with, tatay (father) Rekto, and two of his three sons told us he wasn't home. His youngest son didn't get the memo and told us that he was home. We saw him looking at us through the window and then he invited us in.

We walked a ton on Saturday, probably 5 - 7 miles, to try to contact all of the people we've been meeting with. It's good for us to stay in shape, but the walk also gives us the chance to see some pretty beautiful sights. We wanted to remind all of the people we've been working with about church on Sunday and try to motivate them to attend. However, we had a big miscommunication that messed things up. On Sunday, there was an important broadcast from church headquarters. We didn't know about it until Sunday morning. That meant we couldn't meet at our normal location here in Socorro. Most of our investigators and group members were not able to make the trip to Pinamalayan to view the broadcast. That was disappointing, but hopefully some of them will be able to attend church next week.

Our living conditions are still not the greatest and we may end up moving to a new apartment that actually has running water, but for now, things are okay. After cleaning up our apartment, we've had to re-clean everything because the rats found a new way to get in through a hole in our screen.

We ran out of money this past week because we've been buying a lot of things to make our apartment nicer. More funds were transferred into our account today, so it will be nice to be able to buy fruits and vegetables again. The local community just had a big harvest of bananas and rambutan and other fruits from the forest areas around Socorro. That means we will be able to buy a lot of fresh fruit.

Food Adventures:

We visited the Alda family. The conversation turned to food as it frequently does, and just like a F-1 pit crew, we suddenly had a full table, completely set with plates and food, placed in front of us in just a couple of seconds. We were fed some eggs, fresh from their chickens outside, with rice.
The Rekto family fed us some spicy chicken fat, hairy pork, and rice with a ton of ants in it. I'm not sure who ate more rice, us or the ants!
We had siomai, which is a meat-filled dumpling, similar to a Chinese or Japanese dumpling. It was mystery meat, but tasted pretty good.
We had a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich. The bread was dense, dry, and very crumbly and the pineapple jelly wasn't nearly as good as it should have been.

Spiritual Thought:

As I go through my week, I need to do a better job realizing when things are out of my control. One of my friends shared a scripture with me: Doctrine & Covenants 64:33 which states " Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great. " That helped to remind me of the importance of the work I'm doing now and the fact that I am not doing this alone. The Lord can take my small efforts and turn them into something great!

I've had a ton of people send me encouraging emails and well-wishes the last couple of weeks. Thank you for all your love and support while I am going through these trials. It really means a lot to me.

Elder Arick Smith

Doing My Best

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 15:04:29 GMT

September 22, 2019
Making the Most of a Difficult Situation

Hello Everyone!

Miracles:

This week was filled will small and big miracles. Small miracle number one is that I'm not dead yet. :) We haven't had running water for the past five days. We pay for purified drinking water, so I'm not in immediate danger, but it's difficult to do everyday tasks without running water. We've had to haul in buckets of muddy well water to get by and do laundry and bathe and stuff. The second small miracle is the fact that we were able to make it to Pinamalayan, just south of Socorro, to finally get to a working ATM. We rode in a tricycle taxi (motorcycle with a big sidecar). I bought two pairs of shoes, one to use and get nice and dirty, and another to keep nice for church meetings and missionary zone conferences.

One of the big miracles happened after we ended a lesson with an investigator about the Book of Mormon. The lady we were teaching is Nanay Cely (pronounced selly). We finished the discussion and said a prayer before leaving. Just then, my kasamaa (companion) Elder Park, had the prompting to pray so she would have electricity in her house so she could read the Book of Mormon. They were in the middle of a brown-out (localized power outage). After we said that prayer, all the lights in her house turned back on! We were very glad that she was able to read that night and also excited to see that miracle.

Cleanup:

Our apartment is still a mess, but I'm making good progress on cleaning everything up. Hopefully today I can finish cleaning the rest of it. After I'm done using a fine tooth comb, I'll send pictures. :) At night, I'm pretty sure all the rodents in our neighborhood gather at our place for a party. Its noisy and disconcerting, for sure.

Also, we have really ginormous biting ants here that like to hang out in trees. They try to drop on people and animals. I really don't want to get bitten because they're supposed to be terribly painful. I've discovered that they don't like being sprayed with permethrin, so maybe I can keep them from invading our space.

Teaching:

My companion and I had the prompting to go to another investigator's house the day after we taught him about the "Word of Wisdom" (the Lord's law of health, found in Doctrine & Covenants section 89). Unfortunately, we found our investigator drunk. We have a little more work to do to help him understand the benefits of obeying that law. Obedience to God's commandments brings specific and wonderful blessings.

We went to the city of Pola the other day for companionship exchanges. Pola is a beautiful, coastal area with beaches, palm trees, and mountains. Staying with the District Leader was a little hard because he wasn't very nice and didn't seem to want to train me.

Food Adventures:

I'm really enjoying a treat called pandisol which is bite-sized pieces of slightly sweetened bread.
My kasamaa and I discovered that we can buy a whole rotisserie chicken and eat two or three meals, each, for right around 250 pesos ($5).
We got to watch someone make coconut milk (grinding coconut meat, put it in a cloth bag, and then pressing it to get the milk out). We ate vegetables cooked in a coconut-milk sauce with rice and it was delicious.
Speaking of vegetables, this is a bit odd, but here in Socorro, fruits and vegetables are not always fruits or vegetables. If you eat it raw, they refer to it as a fruit. If you eat it cooked, they refer to it as a vegetable. For example, a carrot can be a fruit if you eat it raw and a vegetable if you eat it cooked.
They have delicious Cadbury chocolate bars and chocolate-dipped Oreo's here. I may survive after all!

Popular:

I've discovered that the people here are impressed by my whiteness (thanks, Dad!). A five-minute walk to church can take 20 minutes to stop and talk to people and get pictures with them. A lot of the teenagers like to call us "Joe" and say "What's up Bro?" even though they can't speak English.

Mahal Kita (I love you) everyone and thanks for the prayers and kind words! Its crazy and awesome to see how many people have reached out to me and how many people care about me. Thank you very much!

Elder Smith

On An Island

Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:12:26 GMT

September 15, 2019
Assigned to Labor in the Socorro, Mindoro Area

Hello Everyone!

Kumusta? (How are you?) Over the past 10 days, my life has once again been completely turned upside down. We left the comfort and wonderful amenities of the Manila MTC last week and headed to the Cavite mission. It was very difficult for me to say goodbye to so many of the good missionaries I've met. We became good friends and a couple of us already made plans to room together at BYU-Idaho when we return. It was hard to leave.

We traveled south to the Cavite mission home and we got to spend some time with President and Sister Cauilan during orientation. They are great people and I've already learned a lot from them. After an uncomfortable night in a crowded apartment, we found ourselves headed to our assignments. I have been assigned to in the Socorro area on the island of Mindoro.

For a little background, the Cavite mission recently went through some changes. When I opened my mission call a few months ago, the mission boundaries included only the area immediately south of Manila on the main island of Luzon. Following this summer's boundary change, the area of the Cavite mission has almost tripled in size. The islands of Mindoro, Lubang, Tablas, Sibuyan and several much smaller islands have been added to the mission. I was just fine with the idea of serving in the Cavite area because it is mostly industrialized, the people speak a lot of English, and I would have access to clean water, decent housing, and good food. Well, sometimes God has different plans for us.

We took a ferry across the Verde Island Passage and traveled south to Socorro. The Socorro area is located on the east side of Mindoro, directly south of Cavite. It's officially referred to as a 3rd class or 3rd-world area. Conditions here are pretty deplorable. I never knew what poverty looked like until now. The homes are incredibly small, have dirt floors and people sleep on a wood plank. Most families bring home about $6 USD per day.

I have been assigned to work with Elder Park from St. George, Utah. He's only been out on his mission for about four months, but his Tagalog is pretty good. The area we're in does not even have a Branch of the church. It's officially a "group" of about 11 people. The locals don't speak much English and in fact get very upset if they even hear us speaking English with each other. Our apartment is really disgusting and my companion has been working on several "science experiments" which I have been trying to clean up and throw away. My least favorite part of the adventure so far is our battles with rats. They are quick, big, resilient, and they can jump really high! We probably shouldn't have an air-soft gun, but we do. We use it to scare the rats out of their hiding places and then try to whack them with brooms until they run out the door or down the drain. I know how my Dad hates spiders, so I won't mention the terrifying things I've seen. (Both adults and children play with black widows and other huge spiders and keep them in matchboxes like pets!)

To say I'm experiencing some major culture shock would be a gross understatement. I've felt a lot of anxiety, some depression, and already been through all sorts of trouble. I'm not sure what is happening most of the time. We are given about 8,400 pesos ($160 USD) per month to live on, but the only ATM in the area is indefinitely out of order. My nice shoes got soaked almost immediately, so I've been wearing my Crocs. We don't have access to laundry facilities so we have to wash clothes in a bucket that you have to spin manually. Also, the indigenous people, the Mangyan, occasionally travel from the mountains to our area to pick up supplies, alcohol, and cigarettes. They typically don't wear much clothing, so that's different. We haven't been asked to learn their language and probably won't communicate with them much, if at all. It's hotter and more humid here than should be legal and the mosquitoes seem to be everywhere. Like I said, major culture shock. At least we found a good place to use the internet. It was nice to be able to Skype with my family. This is going to be a very difficult assignment.

We got to give a priesthood blessing to one of our investigators' daughters. She is sick with the Dengue fever (transmitted by mosquitoes) and it was a good experience to pronounce a blessing of healing for her. We've taught a lot of people and I've already grown so much. I know that I still have much I need to grow from.

I thank you all for your prayers and know that I am blessed by the sincerity of those prayers. I need them now more than ever. I love you all and I hope you all are able to learn something from the struggles I go through. Perhaps just realize how truly privileged and blessed we are. I should be able to spend more time writing a letter next week. I'm still settling in and trying to figure out which way is up.

Thank you, and mahal kita (I love you all)!

Elder Arick Smith

Six Days Left

Fri, 06 Sep 2019 00:44:39 GMT

September 4, 2019
Only Six Days Left Until I Leave the MTC!

Hello Everyone!

I'm Headed to Cavite!

It's finally happened. I'm now one of the long-timer missionaries in the MTC and will soon be ready to leave. We received updated schedules and at some point this next Wednesday, I will be heading to the Cavite, Philippines Mission! I'm both excited and very nervous at the same time. It will be great to start meeting and teaching people, but I really don't want to make a lot of mistakes speaking Tagalog. But, I know I will.

Kasama (Companion):

I don't have much time to write today, so I'll stick with the highlights. Me and my kasama have been working well together. When we teach investigators, I will sometimes say things that he was thinking about bringing up, and he will say things that I was thinking about bringing up. It's nice to be on the same page. We're learning to be bold (but not overbearing) when we talk to others.

Food Adventures:

I ate a pig's face again. It's both very disturbing and tasty at the same time. The dish is called sizzling sisig (pork). The plate is very hot and you have a limited time to crack an egg and cook it on your plate to eat with the pork and rice.
We had a very good coconut-flavored ice cream.
I also ate some super-tasty macadamia-nut chocolates (Meiji brand) with the smoothest chocolate I've ever had. They were amazing.

MTC Hobbies:

Being here in the Missionary Training Center for so long has led to several interesting hobbies:

Avoiding the huge cockroaches. There aren't very many of them, but they are ginormous.
Doodling on the cover of my journal.
Making rubber-band balls.
Cutting apart my fat ties, trimming them down, and sewing them up again to make them skinny ties.
Memorizing and reciting the Missionary Purpose in Tagalog . . . as fast as you can. I hold the current record in our District of 10.44 seconds . . . slightly faster than our native-speaking teacher. :) A slower, 17-second version is below for your viewing enjoyment.

Here it is in English: "My purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end."

Spiritual Thought:

We learned that just about any spiritual-related question about your life can be answered by reading 1 Nephi Chapter 1 . When we want to talk with God, we pray. When we want to hear what God has to say or what lessons He wants to teach us, we read the scriptures.

You won't hear from me for another 10 days. My new Preparation Day (and email day) in the Cavite mission will be on Monday and not Thursday. Until then, thank you for all your prayers and support!

Elder Arick Smith

Leadership & MTC Life

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 13:59:11 GMT

August 28, 2019
Getting Better All The Time

Hello Everyone!!!

This week was not without its trials, spiritual blunders, and downfalls, but it was better. We are still pushing along with learning the Tagalog language, trying to learn as many mga salita (words,) mga parirala (phrases,) and mga patakaran sa gramatika (grammar rules) as possible. It can be pretty overwhelming. I came down with a little cold earlier this week and my motivation to study was pretty low. I'm feeling much better now and I think I'm back on track.

District Leader:

Being a district leader for missionaries raised in so many different cultures (the USA, New Zealand, Samoa, Pakistan) is very hard. Some of them expect me to discipline by throwing something at them, and others expect me to do nothing, even when things need to change. I am always striving to be more katulad ng kay Cristo (Christlike) and in tune with the needs of everyone in my district.

"Love the People:"

One of the common pieces of advice I received ever since I opened my call to serve as a missionary is that I need to "love the people." Missionary work is better and easier if you "love the people." Well, we don't have much exposure to the people of the Philippines here in the Missionary Training Center (MTC). I've spent a lot of time wondering how I can love people that I've never met. I decided that I WILL love the people some day, as soon as I leave the MTC. But, I had a great experience this week that has changed everything for me.

Earlier this week, we got to leave the MTC and travel about 20-30 minutes to the Quezon City North mission and go on companionship exchanges with more experienced missionaries. It was an amazing experience! I got to ride on a jeepney (the driver started going before I was completely in the vehicle!) and got to eat some pretty cool food. (By the way, driving in the Philippines is 100% insane! I'm lucky to be alive.) And, the best part is that we got to talk with real live people and high-five little kids! I was completely invested in our conversations and loved sharing my testimony with them, even though my language skills are not all that great. I could understand the basics of what was being said, which is really cool. We spoke with a woman who was making little piggy banks out of cardboard to sell for about 15 pesos each (30 cents). Even though she ultimately wasn't interested in hearing more of our message, it was great to speak with her. I can truly say after that experience, I love the people of the Philippines and that I cant wait for that love to support me and carry me when things get difficult!

MTC Schedule:

I thought I'd share my schedule on a typical day here in the Manila MTC:

6:00 am - Wake up;

6:45 - 7:15 - Daily planning;

7:15 - 7:45 - Breakfast;

7:45 - 8:45 - Personal study;

8:45 - 9:30 - Companionship study;

9:30 - 12:30 pm - Language study (vocabulary);

12:30 - 1:15 - Lunch;

1:15 - 2:15 - Personal & companionship language study;

2:15 - 3:45 - Teach an "Interested Person" (typically another MTC teacher, role playing gospel discussions);

3:45 - 5:30 - Language study (grammar);

5:30 - 6:15 - Dinner;

6:15 - 7:30 - Grammar study and SYL (Speak Your Language);

7:30 - 8:30 - Gym / PE - usually basketball;

8:30 - 9:00 - Personal study;

9:00 - 10:00 - Journal, get ready for bed.

They keep us very busy! The picture below shows my MTC teachers. Brother Rhoda is our grammar teacher and he is on the front row, left-hand side. My language/vocabulary teacher is Sister Borja. She's also on the front row, the last Sister on the right.

Scripture:

D&C 27:15-18 (see also Ephesians 6:11-17)

15 Wherefore, lift up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, having done all, that ye may be able to stand.

16 Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, which I have sent mine angels to commit unto you;

17 Taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked;

18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of my Spirit, which I will pour out upon you, and my word which I reveal unto you, and be agreed as touching all things whatsoever ye ask of me, and be faithful until I come, and ye shall be caught up, that where I am ye shall be also. Amen.

I love the promise at the end saying if we put on the whole armor of God, we will be able to have His Spirit. I know this is important to be able to teach the people in the way God wants us to teach them.

Food Adventures:

While I was in the Quezon City North mission, my senior companion took us to eat some pork-chop adobo. They served it with a mountain of rice and the meat included some intestines. It was pretty tasty.

We had melon ice cream that was pretty good;

They have started serving Nutella paninis for breakfast! I'm so happy. I may or may not eat three or four each morning. :)

I think that's it for now. We got to attend the Manila temple last week and I'm looking forward to it again today. I love the peace that is there. I hope each of you are doing well and having a great week. Thank you for your love and prayers!

Elder Arick Smith

Missions are Difficult

Thu, 22 Aug 2019 14:17:01 GMT

August 21, 2019
Not Enough Time to Study

Hello Everyone!

Serving as a missionary is difficult! Sun-up to sun-down we are always busy and are never quite getting everything done that needs to get done.

This week I clung to this scripture in the Doctrine & Covenants, Section 80: 1, 3-5:

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant [Arick Smith]: Go ye, go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature that cometh under the sound of your voice.

3 Wherefore, go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss.

4 Therefore, declare the things which ye have heard, and verily believe, and know to be true.

5 Behold, this is the will of him who hath called you, your Redeemer, even Jesus Christ. Amen.

This scripture helped me to know that even though I'm struggling with the language and struggling with not being able to recall the words I've learned in Tagalog, I can hold on to the knowledge that I have been called to this work by Jesus Christ and that the Holy Ghost is influencing me and everyone around me.

I've been trying to live my life to be more in tune with the Spirit. We were able to listen to a broadcast from Provo, Utah given by Elder David A. Bednar, one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He told about an amazing incident that happened in his life not too long ago which demonstrated how the Spirit can guide and direct our lives:

This is a brief summary and I may not have all the details right: A mission president and his wife were struggling with health issues and would need to be released from their calling. This meant that the church leadership in Salt Lake City would need to interview a couple and ask them to begin serving in their new mission in about three weeks, which is not much time for such a life-changing call to serve. Elder Bednar was inspired to interview a particular couple and asked his secretary to set up an interview as quickly as possible. Later that morning, he heard his secretary on the phone and was surprised to hear her say "what are you wearing today?" When she got off the phone, she reported that while this couple lived over four hours away, they were visiting Salt Lake City that day and were headed to the Temple. They were already dressed appropriately for an in-person interview with Elder Bednar at the church office building! They had lived their lives in such a way that they were influenced by the Spirit, even though they didn't know they were being influenced by the Spirit. Within three weeks, this couple was set apart and they were serving in their new assignment!

When we live our lives according to the Spirit of God, He can work miracles.

I know that reading the scriptures is a good way to invite the Spirit into my life. I bought a new indexed "Quad" this past week (the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine & Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price all bound in one book) and for the first time in my life, I've been actively marking meaningful verses of scripture that I read. It has been a great experience so far!

Tagalog:

We have been very busy learning Tagalog. We're well into the SYL (Speak Your Language) program which requires that we speak Tagalog as much as possible, all day long. In addition to all the vocabulary words we're learning, I also carry around a notebook. When I hear others say a Tagalog word that I don't recognize, I ask the person who said it what the word is, how it's spelled, and I write it in my notebook. I then go back and study those words (I've written hundreds by now) during my "free time."

We're also learning about Tagalog grammar and conjugation and wow is there a lot to learn! I never seem to have enough time to study!

The Manila temple re-opened this week after being cleaned. There were a lot of Filipino church members on the temple grounds and we were asked to go and speak with some of them and try to share a scripture or a spiritual thought. It couldn't have gone worse for me. I blanked and forgot everything I learned in the classroom. That was a very, very humbling and difficult experience for me. This whole week was very difficult.

Food Adventures:

Buckle up! If you are squeamish, turn away now! I ate Balut! I told myself that I wasn't going to try balut while I was serving in the Philippines. The concept is just too gross. Balut is a mostly-developed duck egg and is considered a delicacy here. The Missionary Training Center wanted to give us the opportunity to try it in a "safe" environment. Balut is as gross as it sounds. The taste was horrifying and the texture is slimy and crunchy and gross. I almost didn't make it . . . and my stomach felt pretty unsettled the rest of the day. But, I did it.

I had some cool fruit called rambutan. It's very similar to a lychee (China) which is a really good snow-cone flavor. It's a sweet, white fruit but the outside is red and really hairy and weird. I didn't enjoy seeing a worm on the outside of the fruit after I ate the meat, but I guess I need to get used to that kind of thing.

The Big Picture:

Like I said earlier, it was a very difficult week for me. However, I know that even though I may struggle now, there are people here in the Philippines that need to hear at least a little of the message of the Gospel and it will change there lives.

This is a summary of another talk we heard by Elder Jeffery R. Holland. Again, I may not have all the details correct: Two missionaries were working in Poland just before World War II. They knocked on a door and a woman opened it only about 6 inches. After giving their standard introduction, the woman asked if they were church "ministers." They said "yes" and she quickly said that she vowed many years ago to never speak with another minister. She slammed the door. One of the missionaries was surprised and boldly knocked again. The experience was just about the same and the door was slammed again. Yet again, this missionary knocked and asked her to please explain why she would never speak with another minister. She finally told them of an experience she had several years ago. Her three-year-old daughter passed away and she asked a local minister where her daughter was. That minister informed her that her daughter was in Hell and that she was headed there too because she did not regularly attend church. She vowed to never speak with another minister after that interaction. The missionary was able to share the following scripture from the Book of Mormon:

Moroni 8:19-21

19 Little children cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his mercy.

20 And he that saith that little children need baptism denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption.

21 Wo unto such, for they are in danger of death, hell, and an endless torment. I speak it boldly; God hath commanded me. Listen unto them and give heed, or they stand against you at the judgment-seat of Christ.

The woman was overjoyed to hear this and agreed to listen to the rest of what the missionaries had to share. She became a life-long member of the church and managed to help keep the church going while the Nazis occupied her country during the war.

There may be people living in the Cavite mission boundaries who need to hear the message we have to share. Perhaps people who have been in spiritual pain and suffering for a very long time. I hope my hard work will pay off and bring God's peace to people, just like this woman in Poland.

That's all for today. We get to attend the Manila temple later today and I'm looking forward to that. Keep going! No matter how tough life gets, it will always be worth it in the end.

Love,

Elder Smith

Struggles with Tagalog

Thu, 15 Aug 2019 13:52:10 GMT

August 15, 2019
Foreign-Language Mode

Hello Everyone!

Tagalog:

This week we taught our first investigator in Tagalog/Taglish (English and Tagalog) and I don't think it could have gone any worse. I struggled to speak and I wish I had done even more planning. Even though our investigator said they understood the concept me and my kasama (companion) were teaching, I think they were just being nice. I have a long way to go.

The teachers are helping me to memorize all the words and phrases we need to learn, but the language is still one of the hardest parts about this whole experience. I've gotten to the point where I can understand most of the basic words when I'm listening to someone or having a conversation, but when its my turn to speak, it all falls apart. The goal is to teach each of the missionaries about 1,500 basic words and phrases by the time they exit the MTC. However, my kasama and I have set a goal to reach 3000 words, 500 phrases, and 10 scriptures/passages in the next 30 days. We're really pushing ourselves.

I am finding out that I know a little more Spanish than I thought I did. Frequently my MTC teacher will drill us on words and phrases and my brain switches into foreign-language mode and the Spanish word will pop out. It confuses and amuses our teacher.

The District:

As for our District, I'm starting to gain a better understanding about all of a District Leader's assigned responsibilities. There are still problems and we have a couple of Elders and Sisters who I need to spend some more time with, but that will take a little more patience and love to figure out. I'm making good friendships with some really good people.

We got a new Sister missionary in our District and so now we have a companionship (two Sisters) from Pakistan! They don't speak much English which makes thing pretty difficult.

Food Adventures:

One day we were given a delightful, mango-looking ice cream for desert. However, when I took a bite, it was definitely not mango! It was a super-weird cheese-flavor ice cream. That was a serious disgrace to ice cream kind!

They had a pasta-bar the other day and I just about ate my weight in pasta! I was so happy.

We were served a whole fish, eyes, teeth, and all. Fortunately we were given a bunch of rice to go with it.

Spiritual Thought:

John 1:5 " And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. "

While this scripture is part of John's introduction and was used to talk about the Savior, I learned this can also apply to the language I'm learning, teaching basic Gospel principles, and even learning things on your own. Learning and the general flow of knowledge seems to go better when we ask for the Savior's light to be with us in our lives.

I received my minister card this week which means I'm formally recognized by the Filipino government as a Minister for our church. Now I just have to work hard and train hard to make sure I do my best in this big responsibility.

Have a great week and be a light to others.

Love,

Elder Smith

I Survived Week One!

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 19:51:14 GMT

August 8, 2019
Manila, Philippines Missionary Training Center (MTC)

Ginawa ko ito! (I made it!)

I have survived one of the most mentally and spiritually exhausting weeks of my life. My mental capacity has been stretched by setting a goal of memorizing 50 Tagalog/Filipino words each day. In a few weeks, I'll only be able to speak Tagalog from the time I wake up to the time I fall asleep. I was told that at some point, we are also going to be studying "Taglish." Taglish is what is widely spoken here in the Philippines and consists of Tagalog, English, and Spanish words. That should be very interesting.

We've been asked to memorize several scriptures in Tagalog, including Moroni 10:5 :

" At sa pamamagitan ng kapangyarihan ng espiritu santo malalaman ninyo ang katotohanan ng lahat ng bagay. " In English: " And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. "

I'm grateful to be on this journey of both finding truth and teaching others how they can find truth. I'm grateful that we can go to God in humble, sincere prayer and know that He will communicate with us through His Spirit.

My kasama (companion) is Elder Darrington from Highland, Utah. He recently graduated from Lone Peak High School and he's a pretty great guy. I'm looking forward to learning more about him in the next few weeks. Other missionaries in my district are from Twin Falls and Boise, Idaho; Cokeville, Wyoming; Mesa, Arizona; New Zealand; and a few other places.

Our mattresses are not really mattresses. They're very firm and remind me a lot of concrete. We have a sheet to lay on and a sheet to put over us each night. It's actually kind of chilly because they have to keep the air conditioning on to keep the mildew from growing. Speaking of cold, our showers are not heated. No more 20-minute showers for me! I'm in and out in about three minutes.

Every minute of every day, including our "day off" or Preparation Day, is scheduled solid. (Our P-Days are on Thursdays here at the MTC.) We don't have any time to just sit and rest and relax. We get an hour each day for exercise, usually at night. So far we've played a lot of basketball and I'm looking forward to playing some soccer.

They have a marketplace which is very close to the MTC and the Temple, which is just across the street. My kasama (companion) and I will be going later today to see if they have any good food or candy.

A Powerful Lesson:

I learned what it feels like to be at the highest of spiritual of moments. I've also experienced the lows as I've had to acknowledge I wasn't trying my hardest to do all that I was asked to do.

I've already experienced a few moments where I understood clearly that I wasn't doing my part, and as a result, wasn't getting access to the great spiritual promises that are available to me as a misyonero (missionary). I realized that my mental and physical capacity actually allows me to do a whole lot more than I was doing at the time. After a few hours of what can only be described as slacking off, I felt God's Spirit withdraw from me. Keep in mind, I wasn't doing anything bad. I just wan't doing everything that God and I knew I could be doing to learn the language. I was asked to serve as a District Leader (in charge of helping 11 other new missionaries) and I wasn't fulfilling my duties by teaching them or trying to lift them up as they were experiencing their own lows.

I've never really experienced such a reprimand from the Spirit before and I hope to never feel that way again. In that moment, I felt so hopeless and sad that I had, in a way, let everyone down. Later that day, I did my best to right that wrong. I recorded the following in my journal: " I promise that from now on, I will do better, I will be better, and I will help others to do their best. I as a district leader have failed. " That night, after reading my scriptures and praying, I was given a reminder that I may have not done as much as I could have, but when I can't do it alone or when I feel inadequate, I can always rely on the Holy Ghost for guidance and reassurance. I can quickly realign my will with God's and once again fulfill my responsibilities.

Food:

I'll try to mention some of the fun and interesting foods I've tried during my weekly blog updates.

My first meal in the Philippines was fish heads and chicken hearts with a huge helping of rice. Talk about a shock to the system. In the last week, I've eaten more fish than I have the last four or five years of my life. Looks like my appetite and tastes may need to change a little.

One of the meals we ate included a pig face. I did my best. I had to pick around all the fat and cartilage to get as much meat as possible. That was quite the experience.

Rice. They serve a lot of rice at every meal. Not a little rice or even a couple of big scoops, but a mountain of rice. I have the feeling I'm going to be mostly made of rice before my Philippines adventure is done.

Meat: They serve fat and gristle as main courses here. I miss good, lean meat.

Spiritual Thought:

We got to hear from a General Authority of the church the other day. He had some great things to say, but one of the things he shared really touched me. In Luke chapter 5, the Savior was teaching some people by the shore of a lake in Gennesaret. The fishermen were done for the day and were washing their nets. It's important to note that they were taking good care of their nets. Those nets represented their livelihood and were very important to them.

The Savior stood in Simon/Peter's boat and taught the people for a while. He then instructed Simon/Peter to " Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. " Simon/Peter objected and said their fishing had not been successful all night. Additionally, they had already cleaned the nets and would have to do it again if they were again unsuccessful.

Simon/Peter obeyed and " they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. " They caught so many fish that they called to their friends for help. The Savior then called Simon / Peter, James, John and others to be fishers of men (to preach the gospel to them). In verse 11, it says " they forsook all, and followed him. "

I was struck that they were obedient, even though they probably thought it would result in a lot of extra work re-cleaning the nets. And again, I was impressed that they were willing to forsake " all " to follow Christ. Even their important nets.

I guess I'm kind of doing the same thing by being here in the Philippines. I'm willing to forsake the things that have been going on in my life, like college and work and family, to serve the people of the Philippines, Cavite mission for a couple of years.

That's about it. One week down, many weeks to go. I can already tell this is going to be quite a roller-coaster ride. Thank you, everyone, for all your support and your prayers. Be sure to check out my other pictures in the Gallery part of the blog.

I Love you all!!!

Elder Smith

The Long Journey to Manila

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 14:17:34 GMT

August 2, 2019

On My Way!

On Thursday, July 30th, I took the first big step on my journey. It was a very difficult, very emotional experience to hug each of my family members, say goodbye, and get on the plane. I thought a lot about what my family means to me and about all of the things they have done for me over the years. I'm very grateful for them, but also know it's time for me to begin this next, exciting chapter of my life.

I flew from Nashville to Los Angeles, California where I met 39 other missionaries who were on their way to Manila, Philippines. Some were headed to their missions and some, like me, were headed to the Manila Missionary Training Center (MTC). The flight from Los Angeles to Manila was a long one. Fourteen hours long! Miraculously, the two people sitting next to me just kind of disappeared during the course of the flight. I guess they found somewhere else to sit. I didn't complain, because I got to stretch out and get a little sleep.

Once we got to the Philippines, we went through customs, got our visas, retrieved our luggage, and were one our way. We spent the first day, August 1st, in a hotel to help us rest and get adjusted to the 13-hour time difference. It was interesting to me that I took off on July 30th and landed in Manila on August 1st. I completely missed July 31st!

Very early the morning of August 2nd, we headed to the Manila MTC and got checked in. One of the first things we did was get a mandatory haircut. Even though my haircut wasn't even 5 days old, I got another one. I guess hair can't be too short when you're a new missionary. I was glad we made it and happy to be on my way.

Called to Serve

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 17:13:47 GMT

August 1, 2019
Philippines, Cavite Mission

My name is Elder Arick G. Smith and I have been called to serve as a volunteer, full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I have been assigned to labor in the Philippines, Cavite mission and will be learning the Tagalog language. My assignment begins August 1, 2019 and will conclude the summer of 2021. My primary purpose as a missionary " is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in the lord Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. ”

To learn more about the basic beliefs of those who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, click here .

To learn more about full-time missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, click here .

And, to request a visit from full-time missionaries serving in your area, start here .

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The Work in Kekaha

We've Been Busy!

A New Place, A New Everything

Transferred to Kekaha, Kauai

Transferred to Kauai!

It's Been a While and Things have Changed

Training Assignment

A Lot of Changes

A Week of Conferences

In-Person Mission Conference & General Conference

Beautiful Laie

A Trip to the North Shore

Let God Prevail

Another Week in Paradise

Flood Recovery

Torrential Rains and Flood Recovery Efforts

A Week of Music

Testifying Through Music

Lots of Changes

A New Assignment

Importance of Baptism

Desire to Teach

Creative Finding Week

A Slower Week, But a Good Week

Not a Dead Area

Getting to Work

Reassigned to the Hawai'i, Honolulu Mission

Returning to Missionary Service

My Life Got Flipped, Turned Upside Down

March 25, 2020 Leaving Cavite

Zone Conference and a Busy Week

March 15, 2020 Preparing for COVID-19

A Busy Week in Naic

March 8, 2020 Chris Angel, Cyrus, & Cedric

A New Chapter

March 1, 2020 Goodbye Socorro & Transferred to Naic

Nanay Panganiban

February 23, 2020 A Busy and Rewarding Week

Richard Delos Santos

February 16, 2020 A Wonderful Week

Healing and Studying

February 9, 2020 A Slower Week

An Unusual Week

February 2, 2020 Ups and Downs

Feeling Better

January 26, 2020 Feeling Sick and Feeling Better

We Survived Ta'al

January 19, 2020 A New Branch and a Volcano!

Welcome 2020!

January 5, 2020 A Brand New Year!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

December 29, 2019 Christmas Week

The Week Before Christmas

December 22, 2019 Christmas Season in Socorro

San Jose Zone Conference

December 15, 2019 Traveling & Christmas Party

Typhoon Tisoy

December 8, 2019 A Typhoon and a New Companion

District Activity & Evacuation

December 2, 2019 Get to Higher Ground

Interviews and Tortillas

November 24, 2019 President Cuilan & A Package from Home

Zone Conference & Exchanges

November 17, 2019 There is Work Enough To Do

A Deceptively Busy Week

November 10, 2019 Mosquito Season

Disappointment and Cancellations . . . and Serious Sogginess

November 3, 2019 Cats and Tree Branches

Busy Week of Working Hard

October 28, 2019 A Long, Busy Week

The Na-aby Family

October 21, 2019 The Work is Progressing

Busy Week!

October 13, 2019 The Work is Progressing

Two Months!

October 7, 2019 Learning More About Socorro

Making Progress

September 30, 2019 Looking for the Good

Doing My Best

March 25, 2020
Leaving Cavite

March 15, 2020
Preparing for COVID-19

March 8, 2020
Chris Angel, Cyrus, & Cedric

March 1, 2020
Goodbye Socorro & Transferred to Naic

February 23, 2020
A Busy and Rewarding Week

February 16, 2020
A Wonderful Week

February 9, 2020
A Slower Week

February 2, 2020
Ups and Downs

January 26, 2020
Feeling Sick and Feeling Better

January 19, 2020
A New Branch and a Volcano!

January 5, 2020
A Brand New Year!

December 29, 2019
Christmas Week

December 22, 2019
Christmas Season in Socorro

December 15, 2019
Traveling & Christmas Party

December 8, 2019
A Typhoon and a New Companion

December 2, 2019
Get to Higher Ground

November 24, 2019
President Cuilan & A Package from Home

November 17, 2019
There is Work Enough To Do

November 10, 2019
Mosquito Season

November 3, 2019
Cats and Tree Branches

October 28, 2019
A Long, Busy Week

October 21, 2019
The Work is Progressing

October 13, 2019
The Work is Progressing

October 7, 2019
Learning More About Socorro

September 30, 2019
Looking for the Good

September 22, 2019
Making the Most of a Difficult Situation

September 15, 2019
Assigned to Labor in the Socorro, Mindoro Area

September 4, 2019
Only Six Days Left Until I Leave the MTC!

August 28, 2019
Getting Better All The Time

August 21, 2019
Not Enough Time to Study

August 15, 2019
Foreign-Language Mode

August 8, 2019
Manila, Philippines Missionary Training Center (MTC)

August 2, 2019

On My Way!

August 1, 2019
Philippines, Cavite Mission