Elder Smith 28 Dic 2009

Choir that we did as a zone to sing in the hospital together with an activity of the relief society.

Hello family,
How is everyone doing? Very well I hope. I hope that everyone was able to pass a great Christmas with their families. Here in Ecuador we had a really good Christmas. The 25th four people were able to enter the waters of baptism during a zone baptism service that we had. We are very happy to be here in this part of the Lords vine yard teaching His children and helping them to come unto Christ.
My companion and I are working really hard. It is good to have and companion that has a purpose and a vision of why he is here in the mission of all the great things that we can accomplish. We are working really hard to find new people to teach. We trust in the promise of Pres. Erying when he said that the Lord has prepared people for His prepared servants. There are many people waiting to hear our message and we are going to find them.
Yesterday the bishop of our ward showed that he has a lot of confidence in us and gave us an hour of the Sunday school to teach the members the importance of working together in the growth of Sion. Many of the members showed a lot of enthusiasm to start the new year with the missionary spirit. We are going to keep working with the members and inviting the people to come unto Christ.
Looking forward to hearing back from all of you. Thank you to those that wrote me this week. Your words of encouragement help me to remember who I am what I can become. 3Nephi 27:27 love and miss you all.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 14 Dec 2009

Hello family,
I havent been able to write a whole lot because the internet is letting down today but that is ok. Ill try to get something small out to you guys today. We had a good week. Ended another change. We didn’t have transfers, im still here in Quevedo. We are working a lot with the missionaries in the zone to have a good turn out in the Noche blanca the 25th of December. We ended up not having a baptism this weekend, but the sister that was going to get baptized will be ready for the 25th so we are excited for her. There is a family less active that has come to church two weeks in a row and there are a few young men in the house that aren’t members and they like the church a lot. We are going to put a baptism date with them tonight during the Family Home Evening that we are going to have with them.
I hope all is well at home, looking forward to hearing from everyone this week.
Love elder Smith

all the Christmas stuff

no snow in ecuador but its ok...

http://shainsmith.blogspot.com/

tacos for lunch...

http://shainsmith.blogspot.com/

Elder Smith 07 Dec 2009

Hey family,
How is everybody doing? Really well I hope. We had a really good week. Lots of new people at church and a few people that have accepted the invitation to be baptized. December sure is a good part of the year to be in the mission. This week we are going to have a baptism of a sister that we found through a service project kind of more or less. She is really excited. We are planning a white night or (Noche Blanca) in the zone. That means we are going to have a big baptism service with all the missionaries of the zone on the 25th of December. We are planning on having lots of success that day.
This week we are going to sing as a zone choir in the hospital so that should be a good experience. Last night we got to go to the Christmas devotional of the first Presidency, in Spanish, it was really good. It is Important to be reminded about what the real reason is that we celebrate Christmas. I hope that every one of us can follow the counsels of Pres. Monson and look for someone that we can give and helping hand and show the pure love of Christ and share the true spirit of Christmas.
Looking forward to hearing back from everyone. Im glad to hear that it is snowing in Reno. no snow in Ecuador but its ok haha. Love and miss you all a ton. Until next week. Chao.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 30 Nov 2009

Hello family,
How is everyone doing? We had another really fast week. As a zone we had six baptisms whish was a good way to end the week. We are working a lot with the missionaries here so that we can have more success. With my companion we have been doing a lot of interchanges with the other sectors. It’s good to meet other people and to show the other missionaries the best way to work. It is a really good learning experience for the both of us.
This week I went to one of my old sectors and got to see a lot of the members that I had met and some of the converts. Everyone is doing well and they still remembered who I was haha. It was a pretty good day. This week we are going to do more interchanges to be able to get to know all the elders better and help them in their wards.
Yesterday we got to talk with all the bishops of the stake and the stake Presidency, t hat was a new experience. All and all things are going well here in Ecuador. It is really hot and it should start raining any day now. The country is in a drought right now so we will see how things go.
Looking forward to hearing back from all of you this week.
Aunt JoAnn, what part of Chile is Ben going to serve in? I have met lot of really great elders from Chile. They are really nice people. He will enjoy his mission a lot. Thank you for all the support that you and your family give me.
Love and miss you all a ton. Until next week. Chao.
Elder Smith

Leadership conference in Guayaquil

Elder Smith 23 nov 2009

Hello family,
How is everyone doing? Well I hope. We had a pretty good week. We did a couple of interchanges with some of the elders in the zone. We went to a place about two hours from Quevedo called Balzar, long bus ride but that is part of the deal so it is ok. We sure do stay busy here in the zone. There is always something to do. Time has been going really fast these last few weeks. We have met some really awesome people. There are four people that have accepted baptism dates and a few others that are progressing a lot towards a baptism.
We are still working a lot with members trying to help them help us in finding new people to teach. I know that if we keep doing our part the Lord is obligated to do His part. We are looking forward to have lots of success in this ward. One the challenges that we have right now in the sector is the assistance at church. The Sabbath day is a hard thing to complete for many people. They are more than willing to listen to us in their homes, but it hard to go to church on Sunday. We are going to work really hard this week to help the investigators make it to church this Sunday.
Thank you to those that wrote me this week. The letters that you send me are always a great uplifting way to start the week. I love and miss you all. Looking forward to hearing back from you all next week. Read the scriptures, pray always and go to church. Invite others to learn more about the Restored Gospel.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 16 Nov 2009

Hey family,
How is everyone doing? i dont have a whole lot of time to write this week. i had a few things that i had to do today. we had a good week, no baptisms but we did invite one person to be baptized and they accepted the invitation. we have been working alot with the other Elders in the zone helping everyone of them be better and have more success.
Sounds like everyone had a pretty good week. It sounds like a good stake presidency that has been called.
Here in Quevedo there isnt very much news. I should have more to tell everyone next week. we are working alot witht he members to be able to find new people to teach. we are focusing alot on the Book Of Mormon still.
Looking forward to hearing back from everyone this week. Thank you to those that have written me this week. i love and miss you all and will be looking forward to talking to you all next week.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 9 Nov 2009

Hello Family,
How is everyone doing? I hope that all is well at home. It sounds like things are good. We had a good week here in Quevedo. We had another baptism yesterday before church. A young man was baptized. The members of his family are members of the church but inactive so in part of their reactivation their son was able to be baptized. I was able to meet most of the members this week which was good. It is important to have the confidence of the members so that we can work together in strengthening the ward.
I´m excited to be able to work in this zone again and in this sector. There are a lot of challenges in the ward but that just means that we have to work that much harder. The ward has many inactive members so we are going to have to work a lot with them and with the members and home/visiting teaching program. We have lots of good goals to accomplish here in the ward. We are working a lot with the Book of Mormon to find more references. There is a video I don’t know if you guys have seen it called, Small and Simple things, which is helping a lot to get the members excited to help us.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone next week. We are going to be working really hard because there is a lot to get done and not a lot of time to do it. Tomorrow we get to go to Guayaquil for a leadership Council so that should be really good, except for the part that we have to get up at 3:30 to travel for 4 hours to make it in time. Until next week, love and miss you all.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 2 Nov 2009

Hello Family,
How is everyone doing? Very well I hope. Today we had changes. I’m back in the same zone that I came from in Quevedo Sur, but I’m in another sector or ward so that is the good part. Ill have the opportunity to meet new people and work with other members.
In Portoviejo we finished the change with two baptisms. One was a young man named Clever, 14 years old that has been assisting the church for a while and he was getting ready for his baptism. We were teaching his mom too but she hasn’t been able to go to church because she is a nurse and has to work Sundays.
The other baptism was of a sister named Carmen that we have been teaching for a really long time. She has had about 4 different baptism dates and every time a date gets close she decides that she doesn’t want to get baptized. We were going to have to stop teaching her because she wasn’t progressing but when she kept going to church we felt the need to keep visiting her. Saturday in the afternoon we went to her house with the intentions of teaching her daughter and granddaughter but they weren’t there so we thought we would share something small with Carmen before going to our next appointment. Carmen offered the opening prayer and mentioned her thoughts about the baptism. My companion and I were kind of shocked because she was so against the baptism. So we shared a scripture about the baptism and we asked her if she had taken the decision to follow the example of Jesus Christ and to be baptized in His church. She said yes, that she had been praying and that she was decided that she wanted to be baptized. Excited by her answer we told her that we could prepare a baptism service for the 14th of Nov and she said that she would much rather be baptized that same day, Saturday. That was kind of impossible to make happen but with the help of a few members, the bishop and President of the mission, Carmen was able to be baptized Sunday morning before the sacrament services.
The hard part of the weekend was saying bye to all the members and converts in the ward. I hope that some day I will be able to come back to see them again. All and all it was a good weekend. And I’m excited to be in a new sector to keep working hard to help more people come unto Christ.
Looking forward to hearing back from everyone. Miss you all a ton. Until next week. Chao.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 26 Oct 2009

Hey family,

How is everyone doing. I m doing well here in Ecuador. We ended up having a really good week. Like I was talking about last week the importance of working with the members in the mission work we really focused in that this week and it paid off. We were able to teach lots of people with the help of the members and we also were able to receive some really good references of people to teach.
We are looking forward to another good week. This is that last week of the change and it looks like I might be getting transferred. I really like this sector so it will be a hard ward to leave.
Looking forward to hearing back from everyone. Love and miss you all.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 19 Oct 2009

Hey family,
How is everyone doing? I am doing really well. We are still working really hard here in Portoviejo. We are still healthy so we haven’t had to worry about any hospital visits so that is really good. We received a few really good references this week. We met a family Monday and taught them the restoration and invited them to pray to know if what we had taught was the truth and when we returned for the next appointment they had received an answer and accepted out invitation to be baptized. We are really excited for them and it was another example of why the members are so important in this work. The success of the missionaries depends on the members of the ward. We are going to keep working diligently so that we can help these people return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.
Today for our preparation day we went to watch baseball!! An international baseball tournament with teams from USA, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru all of south America actually. The first time in 18 months. The latins that I live with didn’t like it that much so we only got to watch three innings but that was ok. It was good to see something else that isn’t “futbol” hhaha. Well I hope all is well at home. Looking forward to hearing back from everyone.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 12 Oct 2009

How is everyone doing? I hope all is well at home. Here in Ecuador we are still working hard in the Lords work. We didn’t have the baptism that we were planning on this week. The sister that was going to get baptized wasn’t able to have her baptism interview so maybe it will have to wait for another date.
This week I got to do an interchange with the elders in Bahia de Caraques, the sector that is the furthest from Guayaquil in the mission. It was a pretty long bus ride but I got to meet lots of good people and it was for a baptism interview so that is always good.
In the stake center this week all of the missionaries from Portoviejo participated in an Open house where the public was invited to the chapel to learn more about our beliefs, activities and organizations that we have in the church. My companion and I were in charge of the Mission Work and Baptism. Lots of people came and we were able to meet lots of new people to teach.
We are trying to work a lot with the members looking for new people to teach. It can be really tuff when there are people to teach. I think a lot in the talks of the apostles when they teach us that every member is a missionary in the sense that all the members have friends and families that aren’t members of the church and that the missionaries are called to teach. The work would progress so much faster and we would see miracles if we could follow the councils of the prophets and apostles.
I hope that every one of us can be the missionary that the Lord expects us to be, that we can share our testimonies with all those that we come in contact with. We are looking forward to having a good week here in Portoviejo. Friday we have Zone conference in Manta so that will be good. Hope to hear from all of you this week.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 28 Sep 2009

Hey Family,

How is everyone doing? Hope all is well at home. Here in Ecuador we are doing really well. I’m doing a lot better with my foot and now I can walk. It was killing me to be in the house so long without doing anything but now that I can walk I’m more than ready to get back top work. I wasn’t able to finish the bible this week like I was aiming for but I did read the Gospels and learned a lot of good stuff. Reading the scriptures really does help strengthen the testimony of a person. Every that I read the scriptures I’m more sure of what I’m doing and where I am at is the truth. I’m so thankful to be here in Ecuador and to have the opportunity to share my testimony with the people that we come in contact with. Even though the people sometimes don’t want to accept what we are teaching no body can reject a sincere testimony. I hope that everyone one us can gain the breakable testimony that Our Heavenly Father desires that we have through the reading of the scriptures and fervent prayer.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone this week. It would be good to hear how you are all doing. Until next week. Chao. Oh ya, everyone has to go to conference this week and invite a friend to hear the voice of a prophet call of God. What a privilege it is for us to live in these days when we have prophets and apostles to lead and guide us with their counsels.
Elder Smith

28 Sep 2009 - leadership conference with President Gamboa

Elder Smith 21 Sep 2009

Hey family,

How is everyone doing? Doing very well i hope. We finish a pretty exciteing week. Not very exciting in the misión work because i ended up spending the whole week in the bed and in the hospital. I got bit by some type of bug and it got infected and we had to go to Guayaquil to see what happened to me and what they had to do to help me get better. Im doing a Little better now but i still cant walk that much. My companion is going to have to leave with another person all week because i have to continue resting until im 100% good to go. Its been pretty boring not being able to work but the good part is that i have had a ton of time t oread the scriptures. Ive read the Book of Mormon and about to finish Doctrine and Covenents. I going to put the goal t oread the Bible this week and see how far i make it.
Not a whole lot to share with you guys. Looking forward to hearing from all of you this week.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 14 Sep 2009

Hola familia,
How is everyone doing? I’m doing really well. We had a better week as far as the investigators that are progressing and that will be baptized. A few people came to church for the first time yesterday and they like it a lot. This week we have planned two baptisms. A sister named Carmen and her granddaughter named Allison. They are both excited and looking forward to their baptism. We hope that all goes well and that they will be ready for this Saturday.
We are working a lot with the members of the ward and everyone is excited for a Special Sunday that we are going to have this coming up Sunday. Bishop wants to have 50 investigators in the church so it’s going to require a lot of work. We are looking forward to having a really good turnout and lots of investigators to teach.
It sounds like everyone at home is doing well, good turnout for your youth conference, that’s cool that you were all able to do a service project based on mission work. Joseph said after all that has been said the most important job is mission work and President Hinckley said if we want to be happy then we have to forget about ourselves and loose ourselves in this great cause. In the Ensign there is an article that is called our religion is saving souls. The whole purpose of the church is to help us or better said all of the children of our Heavenly Father obey the commandments and return to live with Him. Those that are members of the true church of Jesus Christ have a very large responsibility to share the gospel and I’m glad to hear that the youth of our stake had the opportunity to participate in something so important as
mission work and service.
I hope that everyone is doing well. I love and miss everyone. Looking forward to hearing from you all to know how you are doing. Here in Ecuador I’m doing very well. Until next week. Choa.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 7 Sep 2009

Hello family,
How is everyone doing? I hope everything going well at home. Here in Ecuador it is still pretty hot. We are teaching lots of people. There are many people that want to be baptized so we are helping all of them to be able to complete with the commandments, which sometimes can be the hardest part. This week we had a really low number of assistance at church but this week coming up will be better. We are looking forward to finding lots of new people this week to teach.
Time sure is going by fast here in the mission. I forget how long I’ve been here until the people ask me. I thought by this time I would know everything but I still have a lot to learn. There are still lots of things that I want to achieve here in the mission so I have to take the advantage of the time that I have.
We didn’t really have anything too exciting happen this week. Ill try to have something better to write next week.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone. Hope all is well.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 31 Ago 2009

Here are a few of the questions that mom had for me about ecuador with the ansewor ( i dont remeber how to spell haha es respuesta en español) haha

What is the elevation?
where im at right now is pretty much sea level
are you near the ocean, in the mountains, is it like a jungle, is it like a city? our house is about 40 minutes from the pacific ocean, other parts of ecuador have lots of jungle but there isnt any sector of our mission that has jungle, Portoviejo is a city with lots of buildings and cars and tons of people
, what kind of stores?
they have store of everything, here in portoviejo there is a mall..something different here in ecuador is that people put little stores in their houses and sell stuff like soda, chips, snacks all that small stuff that you would find in a minimarket.
, what is in style?
Ecua is the style lol i dont know. have you ever heard of Daddy Yankee the rapper? all the youth like his music and try to follow his style i guess
, do they have Famous there? Do they even know what that is?
Famous doesnt exsist here :( i did see one t-shirt of famous a while back ago but it was by luck. there are stores here that sell "American Clothes" so sometimes good clothes get donated to sell. a member this week was telling us that they went to one of those stores this week and found garments!! woops.
Are there good looking girls and guys there? Are they all dark skinned? Any blonds?
good looking dudes i dont know. good looking girls, not 8 more months :) and not everyone is dark skinned. there are alot of people that are born white, i dont know how maybe they have a Nephite background haha there are black people here too. little of everything in Quevedo and guayaquil there are lots of Chineese people..
do you eat a lot of bananas?
they eat something that is like a banana but diffent. its called Maduro and Verde. its a hard green banana that they cook. and they have like a hundred different ways to cook this "banana" the verde i like. but the Maduro is the only food i cant eat in this country. its awfull!!
Do they have beautiful flowers? here in the coast i havent seen alot of flowers, but maybe in others parts like Quito the capital. everyone says that the "sierra" is the best part of Ecuador

Elder Smith 24 Ago 2009

Hola Familia,

How is everyone doing? Another week gone by here in the mission, time is going by faster than I would like. We had a good week. No baptisms but we have people that are getting ready for their baptisms and other people that we have planned this week to put baptism dates with.
What is new at home? I haven’t heard a whole lot about Reno in a while. Ecuador is about the same. The Alava Macias family is doing really well. They are really excited about the church and looking forward to being able to go to the temple in a year to be sealed together. They are talking with all of their neighbors about the gospel and trying to help as many people as they can go to church too. We have found a lot of people through their references. This week should be a really good week. We are going to invite everyone that we teach to be baptized.
Looking forward to hearing back from all of you.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 17 Ago 2009

Hey family.
How is everyone doing? Really well I hope. Here in Ecuador I am doing great. We are teaching lots of really awesome people and helping to harvest the Lords vineyard. We didn’t have any baptisms this week but we do have a few people that are preparing for their baptisms.
This week we are going to go to a sector that doesn’t have the church yet. We received a reference from a member of the church that lives in Quito and said that all of her family is waiting to learn more about the gospel. We are excited to go and are hoping to have lots of success and to find many people that are prepared to receive the blessings of the Restored Gospel in their lives.
As far as the mission goes, everything is going really well. Im speaking spanish and teaching everyday using all the time that I have left to help the people come unto Christ.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone this week. Hope all is well at home.
Chao
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 10 Ago 2009 (independance day of Ecuador)

-----Original Message-----
From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 2:48 PM
To: snicksmith@gmail.com; Julie@snsnv.com; smiths@snsnv.com; Taylor@snsnv.com
Subject: Elder Smith 10 Ago 2009 (independance day of Ecuador)

Hey family

How is everyone doing? Im doing great. We had really good week. The Macias Alava family got married and baptized this weekend. The family is going to be a great example for many people and many people will follow their path in following the example of Christs baptism. We are going to keep working diligently to help many people find the happiness that the gospel of Jesus Christ can offer to our lives.

Looking forward to another week to teach the Gospel, I could ask to be in any other place on earth. Pray for the people that we are teaching sothat they can have the courage to obey the commandments and be baptized to take the first steps to the Eternal Life. Thanks for all of the support from home. Chao until next week.

Elder Smith

Elder Smith 3 Aug 2009

-----Original Message-----
From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 4:14 PM
To: snicksmith@gmail.com; smiths@snsnv.com; Taylor@snsnv.com
Subject: Elder Smith 3 Aug 2009

Hola Familia

How is everyone doing? I hope really well. We had another good week. We ended up traveling a lot this past week so we didn’t teach that many lessons but the people that we were teaching are getting ready for their baptisms. This week we went to Manta two times and to Bahia. Traveling takes up a lot of time but that’s part of the deal sometimes when we have assignments.

We are really excited for this week because the family that we have been teaching all this change is going to get baptized. The Alava Macias family who are family members of Rosa and Jacobo are going to get married this week and then baptized on Saturday. We have planned five baptisms for this week so we are going to work really hard so that all goes well.

I’m doing really well here in Ecuador. Everyday I learn something new. I couldn’t ask to be in any other place on earth. This is the last week of the change so maybe next week ill be emailing the family from my new sector. I’m hoping that I get to stay because the people here are so nice and I feel like I’m at home in this ward but I feel like ill be leaving. Were ever I am I know ill be doing the work of the Lord. I love and miss everyone a ton. Hope to hear from you all next week.

Elder Smith

Missionary life in Ecuador...

some sunsets...

some walking...

some monkeying around...

some work...

some more walking...

and some success...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: shain smith
Date: Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Subject: Elder Smith
To: smiths@snsnv.com, Julie@snsnv.com, snicksmith@gmail.com, Taylor@snsnv.com

Hola Familia

How is everyone doing? We had a really good week. We had one baptism and family that we are teaching accepted the baptism date that we put with them for the 8th of August. They are going to get married this week and are really excited for their baptism. I’ll keep everyone posted on the progress of them.´
My companion and I are working really hard every day so that we can help as many people as possible receive the blessing that we have received. One of the inactive families that we are teaching went to church yesterday. That was really exciting because sometimes it’s something really difficult to come back to church after being a parted for so much time. We are going to help their daughter get ready for her baptism.
I hope to be able to hear from everyone this week. I love and miss you all a ton.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith's 1yr mark...

Baptism of Jacobo Rosa and Estefania and their family, most of whom we are teaching right now
Celebration dinner after baptism, Roasted Duck haha my comp was sick for about 4 days lol
Crucita, the beach about 45 minutes from our sector

Elder Smith July 20 2009

-----Original Message-----
From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2009 12:45 PM
To: smiths@snsnv.com; Julie@snsnv.com; snicksmith@gmail.com; Taylor@snsnv.com
Subject: Elder Smith July 20 2009

Hey Family,

How is everyone doing? Here in Ecuador we are doing really well. The weather is still hot, I think hotter actually and right now we are supposable in the winter part of the year, but its ok I’m pretty Ecuadorian so the heat doesn’t get to me haha. This week we have were focusing a lot on the less active members of the church. There are a lot of really awesome families in our sector and the only think that they are missing is to attend church. Seems like to me, that the hardest part for the people is to return after having so much time away from the church. We are trying to get all of the families that we are teaching excited to be able to go to the temple. At the beginning of the year when we were setting goals I said that goals should have a vision and our vision with the less active members is that the families can be sealed in the temple.

As far as the people that we are teaching, we have lots of people that want to get baptized. This weekend we will have one and the weeks coming up I think three families. As always it’s kind of hard to get people to come to church but we are working really hard so that the investigators can attend. Jacobo received the Priesthood yesterday. He seems to be pretty excited to be able to baptize a person. We are going to see what we can to so that he can baptize someone in his family.

Not too much more new this week. Fabricio and Lisseth moved to another city out of the blue. That’s kind of a bummer to not get to say goodbye to them but I guess that’s what its like when we have changes and we don’t get to say bye to any of the members. He told his family that he is attending church but the closest chapel to his house is 1 ½ hours in car. I told his mom that he has the Melquezedic Priesthood so he should form a branch in the city where he is living.

Well I hope that everyone is doing well. We are getting ready to start another week. Looking forward to helping lots of people enter the waters of baptism. Hope to hear from everyone soon. Thanks for the letters this week from home.

Elder Smith

Elder Smith Jul 13 2009

-----Original Message-----
From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 3:13 PM
To: snicksmith@gmail.com; Julie@snsnv.com; smiths@snsnv.com
Subject: Elder Smith Jul 13 2009

Hola Familia

Como están todos. Espero que se encuentren con mucha salud y bendiciones del Señor. Les cuento que estoy muy bien aquí en Ecuador. Tuvimos tres bautismos esta semana. Una familia muy especial que tiene mucha fe en Dios y en Jesucristo.

How is everyone doing? Another week gone by. We finished the week in the best way possible, with three baptisms. The Macias family got baptized this week with their granddaughter. We worked really hard this week to make this baptism come to past. The couples, Jacobo and Rosa got married on Tuesday and then baptized on Saturday and yesterday were confirmed members of the church in the sacrament meeting. I haven’t talked a whole lot but they are a family that we met through the reference of Rosa Farfan. Jacobo is 73 years old and when we met him about a month and half ago he had just been operated on. He was bed ridden and could not move at all. We went to the house where he was staying and his daughter who isn’t a member asked if there was any type of prayer that we could offer to help her father feel better. We explained to them what a Priesthood Blessing was and asked Jacobo if he had faith. We proceeded with the blessing and that very day he was up and walking and the wound that he had from the operation sealed shut. Jacobo has a lot of faith in Jesus Christ and gained a stronger testimony of the church and the blessing that we gave him. From that day forward we were able to meet his wife, his children and grandchildren all of whom are very kind and receptive to our message.

Now a little about Rosa, Sister Rosa is paralyzed from the waist down and cannot walk. She does not leave her house because she lives in a cane house that is about 10 feet high and at the highest part of the hill in our sector. Rosa gained her own testimony of the church by praying and receiving an answer. Her and her husband had all the desires in the world to be able to assist the church and finally we were able to make it happen with lots of help of their family and the members. We were able to help her and her husband get married this week and get baptized.

During the baptism service they shared their testimonies and the room was defiantly filled by the spirit. We are going to keep teaching their family and help every one of them receive the same blessings that they have received.

I’m so thankful for the opportunity that I have to teach the restored gospel to so many people. I couldn’t ask to be in any other place in the world. I love what im doing and seeing the joy that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can offer to the people. I love and miss everyone and looking forward to hearing from you all this week.

Elder Smith

Elder Smith 29 Jun 2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: shain smith
Date: Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Subject: Elder Smith 29 Jun 2009
To: snicksmith@gmail.com, Julie@snsnv.com, smiths@snsnv.com

Hello family,

How is everyone doing? Another week gone by and another change. This past change was definitely the fast one that I have had. I don’t know where all the time goes but I guess that’s good because it means we are busy. This weekend we had three baptisms. The wife of Fabricio Farfan finally got baptized. They are both really happy and looking forward to next year to go the temple to be sealed as a family. Fabricio received the Melquesidec Priesthood this week too, good week for the family.
My companion and I are working really hard. Trying to find new people to teach. Right now we have two families that are getting ready for their baptisms. Both of them are really excited and progressing a lot. We found a family of gold that was a reference from the Farfan family that is assisting church every Sunday and even temple preparation but the husband has to finish some paper work with a divorce before he can get married to his wife so that they can get baptized. But they are really cool and have change a lot. There isn’t anything better to see the change that people can make in their lives and to see the blessings that they can receive just by obeying the commandments.
Yesterday we had stake conference and the stake president gave all the members, every family, the challenge to help an inactive family come back to church and to bring one family that are not members to church before the end of the year. Imagine how much a ward could grow if every family to the responsibility to complete the invitation. Many of us have testimonies and many of us can make a grand difference in our wards. Doctrine and Covenants 84:106.
I hope everyone has a great week. I’m looking forward to starting another change. We plan to have lots of success. Hope to hear from everyone this week. Love and miss you all a ton.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith

-----Original Message-----
From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 1:27 PM
To: smiths@snsnv.com; Julie@snsnv.com; snicksmith@gmail.com
Subject: Elder Smith

Hey family how is everyone doing?
I hope really well. Ecuador is doing great. Still hot but we are working hard. We have lots of people to teaching and lots of people right now that are preparing for their baptisms.
The traing experience has been great. My companion is learning a ton and in the process im learning a lot too.
Sounds like everyone at home is doing well. Looking forward to hearing from everyone this week. Love and miss you are a ton.
Love Elder Smith

Elder Smith 8 June 2009

-----Original Message-----
From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 11:09 AM
To: snicksmith@gmail.com; Julie@snsnv.com; smiths@snsnv.com
Subject: Elder Smith 8 June 2009

Hello Family

How is everyone doing? Doing well I hope. Another week gone by in the mission. This change is going by really fast, already half way with my new companion in the change. We had a good week. We found some really good people this week that are ready to accept the gospel in their lives. We had three different families that assisted church yesterday for the first time so that was really good. There are two people that are preparing for their baptism for june 20 and this week we are going to put a few more baptism dates with the people that are progressing.

Not a whole lot new here. Still hot haha. Everything is going well. I Hope everyone had a good week and that everything went well with graduation. Hope you took a lot of pictures. Looking forward to hearing from everyone next week. Thanks for the packages from the family! Love and miss you all.

Elder Smith

familia de Elder Smith

-----Original Message-----
From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, June 01, 2009 2:24 PM
To: smiths@snsnv.com
Subject: familia de Elder Smith

Hey everyone how is everyone doing? really well i hope. Ecuador is doing well as well haha. We are teaching alot of people and helping people to change their lives. my new comp Elder Merchan is doing really well. he is teaching great and learning alot. im doing all that i can to be a good example to him so that he learns right. its kinda of funny because he still speacks spanish from columbia and doesnt understand alot of the ecuatorian words or phrases so he is always asking me what stuff means or how do you say this and i looka t him and say,,hey im the gringo you have to teach me how to speak haha but its good. ive learned that pretty much every country has their own way to speak so when i got home im going ot have to learn how to speak a different spanish.

as far as the people that we are teaching it looks like Liseth is finally going to get baptized. she is the wife of a convet so that would be awsome to see her follow the example of her husband. we have a few other people that arfe progressing and should be ready for there baptisms this month.

a cool experince that we had this week was that last monday we were in a family homw everning and one of there friends asked if we could finish early to give a blessing to a nieghbor because he was really sick and in the morning was going to go the hospital to be operated. we went ot the house and gave the blessing and explained the importance of faith to be able to be healed. He went to the hospital the next day and the doctors couldnt find anything wrong with him and they didnt have to operate. Lots of faith and the power of the priesthood. Glad that we could be instruments in the hands of the Lord. We have an appointment with him and his wife today and i think that they are going to progress a lot.

Well, thanks to everyone that wrote me today. good to hear that reno is doing well. until next week, Love and miss you all.

Elder Smith

elder Smith

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: shain smith 
Date: Mon, May 25, 2009 at 11:29 AM
Subject: elder Smith
To: snicksmith@gmail.com, Julie@snsnv.com, smiths@snsnv.com


Hey family

How is everyone doing? Really well I hope. I’m doing well here in Ecuador. We had changes like I wrote in my letter last week. I have a new companion from Colombia. He is brand new here in the mission. I get to train him and teach him how to be a missionary. He is really cool. Doesn’t talk a whole lot but I think he is still in a little bit of shock. It’s the first time that he has left his country in his whole life. We went to a city called manta this week and he saw the ocean for the first time. He looks out at the water and says with his eyes super big, how beautiful. Lots of water is what I say haha. He is the youngest of 5 brothers and all of his family is members of the church. We are looking forward to working really hard and having a lot of success.
Lots of people to teach and so little time in the day. Everyday is going by faster and faster and at the end of the day I try to figure out where all the time has gone. We are staying super busy. Im trying to teach my new companion everything that I can. Everything that I have learned in the past year.
I hope to hear from a few of you this week. Its been a while to hear from some friends so let me know how you guys are doing haha. Love and miss everyone
Choa hasta la proxima semana
Elder Smith

Elder Smith

From: shain smith 
Date: Mon, May 18, 2009 at 1:08 PM
Subject: Elder Smith
To: smiths@snsnv.com, Julie@snsnv.com, snicksmith@gmail.com

Hola Familia
How is everyone doing? We had changes today. Just one change with Elder Estrada from Columbia. He left to Guayaquil in the morning. I have to wait to see who will be my new companion Wendsday because I get the chance to train a brand new missionary. Im pretty excited to teach a new elder and be an example of how we should do the Lords work. Looks like im going to have a lot of responsibility but that’s good. Im ready to do what I have to do. If we didn’t have chalenges in life we wouldn’t be able to progress so im thankful for this opportunity to serve in a leadership position.
This week in the ward we had a talent show. It went pretty well. Lots of members came and where able to enjoy themselves. My companion and I did a little act. Ill try to send pictures next week because we don’t have any more time.
Rosa shared her testimony in front of ward conference this Sunday and Fabricio blessed the sacrement. We are looking for more people to progress like the familia farfan has progressed.
Thanks for all of the support from home and for the letters that I received this week. I hope everyone has a great week and ill talk to you all next Monday.
Choa Elder Smith

Hola familia-Elder Smith

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: shain smith 
Date: Mon, May 11, 2009 at 2:27 PM
Subject: Hola familia-Elder Smith
To: snicksmith@gmail.com, Julie@snsnv.com, smiths@snsnv.com


Hola familia,

¿Cómo están todos? Espero que todas las madres tuviesen un día muy feliz ayer. Ya pude hablar un poquito con la familia y me parece que todo está bien.

Another week gone by. Another change gone by. We get changes next week but I’m pretty sure that I won’t have any. But time sure is going by fast. This past week we didn’t have any baptisms but Fabricio Farfán received the priesthood so that was good. He is going to be a good in the church. His testimony of the church grows every day. His mom Rosa is doing really well also she went visiting teaching for the first time with the president of the Relief Society this week and now she has her own companion and families to visit. It’s always good to see the new converts’ progress in the gospel.
As far as the program goes of new people to teach this week we had a much better week than the week prior. We have a couple of people that are progressing but still aren’t ready for a baptism date but we are working to be able to help them get there. The door knocking isn’t working out too well. The best way to find new people to teach is defiantly through references.
Thank you to everyone that has written me this week. The support from home always means a lot. I would like to share with everyone that I know that our Heavenly Father sent His son Jesus Christ to the earth to be our savior(John 3:16) and that Jesus Christ resurrected the third day and is a living being with flesh and bones (Luke 24:20-23) and that He is on the right hand side of God (Acts 7:55-56) and all this I know with all of my heart because the Holy Ghost the third member of the God Head has testified these things to me (John 14:26). I hope to be able to share these truths with everyone that I come in contact with.
I love and miss everyone. Hope to hear back from you all this week.
Love Elder Smith

Elder Smith

-----Original Message-----

From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net] 

Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 1:05 PM

To: snicksmith@gmail.com; Julie@snsnv.com; smiths@snsnv.com

Subject: Elder Smith

Hello Family

Hey family, how is everyone doing? Another week gone by. We ended the week with the marriage and baptism of Fabricio Farfan. We had the help of a lot of the members to make the marriage come to pass. We thought that we were going to have to postpone the baptism again for the third time but we have a lawyer in our ward and she helped us a ton with all of the paper work and everything. The baptism was a really good service. Fabricios wife didn't follow the example of her husband but we still have hope for her. The only thing that she is missing is the prayer and to receive an answer. We are trying to help her see the importance of the gospel in her life and more importantly in her family.

Besides the baptism we had a pretty rough week. We are having a hard time finding new people to teach. Like Elder L. Tom Perry said in conference that the missionaries are spending more time looking for people than teaching. That is defiantly the truth. Here in the mission the main focus is to find people through the references because those are the people that will progress. The problem that we have right now is that there aren't very many references. But nothing to worry. Even though we had a low week in references and people to teach we are with buen animo, I don't remember what that is in English haha I think it would be like excited. We are going to start this week with lots of faith and we are going to find the people that want to listen to our massage and that are ready to receive the restored gospel in their lives.

uno de mis compeneros dice que escriba en español. Para que aprenda español. Algunos de ustedes ya saben español entonces pueden responderme en español la proxima semana.

Just a little bit of Spanish to throw there. Im looking forward to hearing from everyone. I hope that all the moms have good mothers days and im looking forward to calling home. Love and miss everyone a ton.

Elder Smith

P-Day on the beach - near Portoviejo, Ecuador

Elder Smith 27 Abril 2009

Conferencia de Zona 25 ABR 2009 Portoviejo

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: shain smith 
Date: Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 10:28 AM
Subject: Elder Smith 27 Abril 2009
To: smiths@snsnv.com, Julie@snsnv.com, snicksmith@gmail.com


Hey family
How is everyone doing. I hope doing really well. Here in Ecuador everything is going really well. This week we had our Zone Conf which is always cool. We had to travel to Manta which is where all the rich beach area is but we didn’t have time to go check it out.
No baptisms this week but we have one planned for this coming up weekend. The couple just has to get married and then they are ready.
Yesterday was Election Day here in Ecuador. They voted for the same president. Pres Correa, he doesn’t like the United States at all. That’s about the biggest thing that has happened this week.
We are still working hard every day. The heat still hasn’t gone away. Its suppose to be cooling down but I think they just say that. The climate here is hot and then hotter.
Im looking forward to hearing back from all of you. Remember to always read the scriptures. Joshua 1:8, Old Testament
Love and miss all.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith

-----Original Message-----
From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 2:04 PM
To: smiths@snsnv.com; Julie@snsnv.com; snicksmith@gmail.com
Subject: Elder Smith

Hola Familia
Another good week here in Ecuador. We are working hard everyday as usual. We ended last week with a baptism. Rosa Farfan was baptized. She is 50 years old and has been cathlic all of her life. She has a strong testimony of the church. She shared her testimony during the baptism service and how she felt to finally find the truth. She is going to be a great source of refrences because she knows everyone.
Everything in Portoviejo is going weel. Today we went to the beach to take some pictures and then we are the famous "Ceviche" a fish soup cooked with lime juice, really good!
Looking forward to another week to share the truths of the restored gospel. A couple that we are teaching should be getting married this week sothat they can get baptized so that is our main focus. Working with all of our strength sothat we can be the intrument that the Lord wants us to be.
Hope everyone is doing well at home. Looking forward to hearing from everyone soon. Love and miss you all.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 13 Abril 2009

From: shain smith
Date: Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Subject: Elder Smith 13 Abril 2009
To: smiths@snsnv.com, Julie@snsnv.com, snicksmith@gmail.com


Hola Familia,

I now have a whole seek in my sector. The sector is really cool. The members are all really nice. I had the chance to get to know just about all of the active members of the ward so that’s good. Our whole sector is a big hill!! I defiantly had the easy life in my sectors before. Hiking up and down the hill to different appointments was killing me the first couple of days but I think im doing good now.
I had my first fish eating experience; nothing bad is just that I didn’t know how to eat the fish when we went to lunch. I think I’ve eaten fish about 2 times in my life and the way it was served to us was a fried fish on top of the rice, it was the whole thing, scales, bones, face haha the whole deal. I guess I was looking at it kind of weird because the family that was giving us the lunch kept asking me if I was ok, if I like fish, do you know how to eat it…went to take my fist bite and I thought I was going to be alright and everyone at the table shouts out loud, not the bones, you can die haha. Well then why did you give me the fish with bones? Haha that’s what I was thinking at least. I guess you have to eat fish slowly and peal the meat off the bones. Since I was knew haha the sister had to peal off all the meat for me like I was a little kid but all and all it turned out to be ok. I think the family will probably cook chicken the next time we eat there though haha
As far as the work goes here in Portoviejo, we have three baptisms planned for this weekend. A family that is really cool. They have strong testimonies of the church and are excited for their baptism. We are working with the members to be able to find more people to teach. We all know that every member is a missionary and that the members have the responsibility to find the people for the missionaries to teach. I hope that everyone is helping the work of the Lord progress by sharing your testimonies and inviting others to learn more about the restored gospel here on the earth.
Thank you so much to everyone that was able to write me this week. The support from home always means a lot. I hope that everyone had a good Easter Sunday and remembered the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I love and miss everyone and I’m looking forward to hearing from everyone soon.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 6 April 2009

From: shain smith
Date: Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 3:03 PM
Subject: Elder Smith 6 April 2009
To: snicksmith@gmail.com, Julie@snsnv.com, smiths@snsnv.com


Hola familia,

How is everyone doing? Extremely well I hope. Today we had changes. I only had two changes in Quevedo. Now I’m in a city named Portoviejo. I have a new companion whose name is Elder Estrada from Columbia. I’m excited to be in a new area and keep working in the Lords work.
We ended the change with a baptism this Friday. A young man named Carlos “pipo” was baptized and confirmed so that was really cool. I’m looking forward to helping a lot more people come unto Christ here in Portoviejo.
Well I don’t have a whole lot to say right now but next week for sure I will. Today we will head out to learn the new sector. Ill let everyone know how it goes. Sounds like the people here are really nice so that will make it easier to reveal the truths of the restored gospel to them.
I hope that everyone had the opportunity to listen to the councils of the General Authorities during conference. May we all be stronger Christians and stand up for the great work that we have to do. I love and miss everyone and hope to hear from you all next week.
Elder Smith

Marzo 23 2009

-----Original Message-----
From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 10:35 AM
To: smiths@snsnv.com; Julie@snsnv.com; snicksmith@gmail.com
Subject: Marzo 23 2009

 

Hola Familia,

 

How is everyone doing? Another week gone by, hard to believe. We had a good week. Saturday ended with the baptism of a young man named Jose Andres. He is super excited and will be ready to receive the Priesthood next week. We had a baptism planned for this coming up Saturday but the person that was going to get baptized wasn’t able to come to church so we are going to have to work with him to put another date.

We found a part member family this week that has been inactive for about six years. The kids are excited to get baptized and their dad wants to come back to church. The mom isn’t a member so we are teacher her too. We are pretty excited for them so we will see. They are the family Martinez.

Well the work continues here in Quevedo. Time is going by so fast. I still have more than a year left go but it doesn’t feel like enough. Hope that everyone is getting ready for General Conference, what an opportunity to be able to listen to the voice of a Prophet of God. Invite everyone that you can to listen and learn from his counsels.

Thanks for all of the letters that I received this week. The support from home always means a tons. Hope to hear from more of you this week.

Elder Smith

Elder Smith..16 Marzo 2009

-----Original Message-----
From: shain smith [mailto:shainsmith@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 10:14 AM
To: snicksmith@gmail.com; Julie@snsnv.com; smiths@snsnv.com
Subject: Elder Smith..16 Marzo 2009

Hola familia.
Como están todos. Espero que muy bien.
Another week gone by, better said another month. Before I know it im going to have a year in la misión.
This week was a more or less a ruff week. I didn’t know that the sun could get hotter than it already was. This part of year it is suppose to be raining but instead it’s just hot. ¡Solaso!
We lost three baptism dates this week. The family Mallorga, that was progressing a ton is passing through a few problems and can’t get married. So that will keep them from being able to get baptized.
We are going to continue working to find people that are waiting to listen to us. We have to focus on working through our faith again. This week will be a better week. We will have a baptism on Saturday and everything will be good.
We have to go now. Thank you all for the letters that you write me. The support from home means a lot. I hope everyone has a good week. Remember to share the Gospel with everyone!! Romans 1:17
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 9 Mar 2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------From: shain smith shainsmith@myldsmail.net
Date: Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 10:14 AMSubject: Elder Smith 9 Mar 2009
To: snicksmith@gmail.com, Julie@snsnv.com, smiths@snsnv.com

Hola familiaWe had a good week. Lots of lessons and we have 4 people getting ready for their baptisms. The family Mallorga that is progressing a lot and really excited and a young man of 12 years that is progressing too. We are going to put another baptism date this week so we will have 5 baptsims planned for this change.A little short on time this week to write but we are doing really well. It was good to hear from a few of you this week. Sounds like everyone is doing well.

Pray for all of the people that you know that still don’t know the Restored Gospel. Alma 6:6I love and miss everyone. Hope to hear from more of you this week.

Elder Smith--

Archive posts from Elder Shain Smith

http://stevennsmith.spaces.live.com/