Elder Shain N. Smith serving in Ecuador

FOTOS DEL CONSEJO DE ZONA 14 marzo 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:27:00 +0000

En la capilla Kennedy Líderes de zona 14 marz 2010

pictures from a few zone leader conferences

elder smith 29 Mar 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:26:00 +0000

Hey family,
how is everyone doing? we had another full week here in Ecuador. there hasnt been too much new this week. we are getting ready for the General Confernce this week, always a good expirience. we should have a few baptisms for the 10 of April. those that had there baptism dates for this past weekend dont feel like they are ready so we are going to help them be prepared for the week after conference.
me and my companion get along really well so that deffintly helps with the teaching. we are trying to find new people to teach which is pretty tuff in this sector but nothing that we cant do. the ward members are great here. most of them have been leaders in the church and know how the things should work. they are helping alot with the investigadores.
i hope that all at home is well. looking forward to seeing everyone soon.
love and miss you all.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 22 Mar 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:19:00 +0000

Hello Family,
Looks like I missed you guys today but that’s ok. How is everyone at home doing? I hope that all is well. We had a good week here in the Sanborondon de Ecuador. We met some new people this week that we are hoping will be able to complete with the commitments that we have given them so that they can be ready to for their baptism. We are excited to be here in this sector and to be able to teach the people.
There hasn’t been too much new stuff that has happened this week. We are getting ready for General Conference and the investigators understand the importance to listen to the voice of a living prophet.
Hope that everyone at home is well. Looking forward to hearing back from all of you next week.
Elder Smith

New email addresses

Missionary Mail

shain.smith@myldsmail.com

Post Mission

shainsmith@gmail.com

Elder Smith Mar 8 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:12:00 +0000

Hey family,

How is everyone doing? i hope that all is well at home. another great week here in Ecuador. this weekend we had two baptism and put four baptism dates. the work is progressing a lot in Quevedo. the bad part about all that is that have been called to serve in another sector. They called us last night at about 10 oclock and told us that we had to be at the bus station at 5 in the morning to travel to Guayaquil. My new sector is a suburb out side of Guayaquil called Duran. My new companion is from Michigan, a gringo, the first time since my trainer. we were in the zone about 3 changes ago so we are looking forward to being able to work together.
Guayaquil is even hotter than Quevedo!! we are looking forward to having a lot of success this change. Enduring to the end, using all of my time with wisdom to complete the work that i have come here to do.
looking forward to hearing back from all of you next week. Paz a vosotros. haha

Chao Elder Smith

Noche Blanca

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:19:00 +0000

the picture of the baptism service saturday. good turn out huh? two are from our sector and one from our ward that is 8 so its not a convert but we taught her.

Elder Smith 1 Mar 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:17:00 +0000

Hello family,
How is everyone doing at home? Here in Ecuador we are doing well. Doing all that we can to stay dry and to keeping helping the people come unto the Lord and receive the restored gospel in their lives. This week we had another Noche Blanca, it was a really good turn out, 12 people were baptized. We are hoping ot have another baptism service this Saturday with four people from upr ward that will be baptized. My companion and I get along really well and that helps a lot with being able to teach by the spirit. We hope to be able to have one more change together here in Quevedo.
I hope that all is well at home. Keep the people that we are teaching in your prayers so that they be receptive to our message. I love and miss you all and im looking forward to hearing back from all you. And if I don’t hear from you, seeing all of you soon.
Elder Smith

FOTOS DE LA GIRA MISIONAL

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:15:00 +0000

picture of the zone in the last zone conference with Elder Gaverett of the seventy - Zona Quevedo Sur 17 Feb 10

Queridos elderes:

Un abrazo fuerte para todos. Les deseo una semana llena de salud, bienestar y mucho éxito; ahí les envío la foto de la conferencia, espero que les guste y les recuerde todo lo bueno que se les enseñó.
con amor, Hermana Gamboa
Misión Guayaquil Norte
Ecuador

The new three piece suit with the Ecuador Flag

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:10:00 +0000

it turned out really well...

Elder Smith 15 Feb 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:54:00 +0000

Hey family,
Looks like I missed you guys this week. Hope everyone had a good week. Sounds like everyone went well at Sand Mountain. We had a good week too. The brother Agustin Jefers got baptized Saturday night. This week we are going to have our zone conference with a general authority so that should be a good experience. We are also going to have the stake conference this same week.

There isn’t too much new stuff going on. We are getting ready for another Noche Blanca, this time we have a really high goal as a zone so it will require lots of planning and hard work. In our ward everything is good. A new convert gave a really good talk in church yesterday, and another convert blessed the Sacrament. We have a few people that are getting ready to be baptized the 27th of Feb so we are going to keep working hard so that they can accomplish their goals.
Everything is going well here in Ecuador. Its still really hot but that’s ok, its part of the deal. We are looking forward to having a good week and to enjoy and learn a lot during the conferences. I hope that you all have a good week and ill be looking forward to hearing back from you all. Mi compañero les manda muchas saludes y dice, Hola.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith-1 Feb 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:24:00 +0000

Hello family,

How is everyone doing? We had a really good week. My new companion and I get along really well and we are both excited to be able to work together here in Quevedo. We were able to finds lots of good people this week to teach and many of them we have invited to prepare them selves to receive a baptism and many have accepted the invitation. The time goes by a lot faster when there is a lot to do and people to teach. We are looking to having lots of success in February.
Last week we only had to travel to Guayaquil one time so that was nice haha we had a Conference with all the zone leaders of mission where we learned how we can be better and how to help the other missionaries have more success here in the mission.
There hasn’t been really anything too exciting that has happened to us this week. We are trying to find another house to live in but not with too much luck so far. Yesterday they called a new Bishop in our ward, Obispo Romero, he is really cool and we are excited to be able to work with him to strengthen the members and the ward.
Looking forward to hearing back from all of you this week. Hope that all is well at home!
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 25 Ene 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:18:00 +0000

Hello family,
Another week gone by, another change gone by better said. we finished the week with a really nice baptism service. in the one 7 people where baptized. We have been running around like crazy this week doing a little bit of everything. i hope that everyone at home is doing well. i have a new Companion. his name is Elder Rojas from Mexico, i dont think that he is a family member but its close haha. looking forwad to anither good week. this week with the changes there are 8 new elders in the zone so we are gonig to have to get to know everyone of them and gain their confidence and work together in the mission work.
thank you to all those that wrote me this week. the letter mean alot and the words of encouragement are priceless. looking forward to hearing back from everyone next week.
Love and miss you all.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 18 Jan 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:01:00 +0000

Hello family,
How is everyone doing at home? I hope all that is well and that everyone had a good week. We are about to finish another change. Hard to believe how fast the time goes by. The good part is that we have been keeping really busy. We are getting ready for a baptismal service in the zone this coming up Saturday. It should be a really good turnout. The missionaries have all been working very diligently. My companion is still working well too, enduring to the end haha. This week we have a lot to get done so the time will go by even faster than normal. We have a few baptism interviews to do, two interchanges, inspections of all the houses of the Elders and to make sure everything is ready for the baptisms Saturday.
As far as the work goes in our own sector, it’s been pretty slow. Defiantly less than what I have gotten use to here in the mission. We have been trying to find new people to teach and we have had very little success. We put together a small plan with the members so that they could talk with their neighbors so we are looking forward to receiving references from them. We have knocked a lot of doors and that was not a very successful way to find people even though we did find one sister that was very interested and we taught her two times and she accepted a baptism date, we were excited for her and for the lesson that we had taught and we were leaving her house when her son calls and says that they are going to be moving to Portoviejo, hopefully she will be able to find the church and the missionaries there.
Not too much more going on here in Ecuador. Staying busy, trying to help the people here in Quevedo find the happiness that every one of us as sons and daughter of our Heavenly Father deserves. Hope that all is well at home. Looking forward to hearing back from everyone this week.
Elder Smith

Elder Smith 11 Jan 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:30:00 +0000

Hola Familia
How is everyone doing? Hope that all is well at home. We finished a another week here in Quevedo. We had a pretty good week. The rain season has started here in Ecuador. So far we have been pretty lucky because it has only been raining at night. Not too much new has happen this week. We knocked a lot of doors trying to find new people to teach but we didn’t have too much luck. We are hoping that a few of the people that we were able to come into contact can become new investigators this week.
We have one person that is getting ready for his baptism the 23rd so we are excited for him. There are a couple of families that we have been teaching that are trying to progress but they haven’t been able to attend church. They are really good people that have a desire to learn more and change their lives so we are working hard to help each one of them complete the commitments that we give them so that they can get ready to receive a baptism.
Other than that not too much going on. My companion is about to finish his mission. He only has two more weeks left but he´s not too trunky. He is still working hard haha. Looking forward to hearing back from all of you this week.
Elder Smith

Ecua haircut- $1.oo

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:25:00 +0000

Elder Smith 4 Jan 2010

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:12:00 +0000

Hello family.
How is everyone doing? Here in Ecuador we are doing well. I hope that everyone had a good new year. Good to welcome in 2010! We had a week of looking for people to teach which wasn’t too easy to do with all of the parties and people traveling but we were able to teach a few less active families that came to church yesterday so that was good. We are working to have a few people ready for their baptism the 23 of January. The biggest challenge right now is to get the new investigators to attend church but we will do everything possible so that they make it Sunday. Thank you to all those that wrote me this week. Your letters mean a lot. Hope that everyone has a good week. Love and miss you all.

The picture is of a "año viejo" old year. the Ecuatorian tradition is to make a person and to burn it in the street at 12 o´clock to start the new year.

Elder Smith 28 Dic 2009

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:26:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:42:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:13:00 +0000

no snow in ecuador but its ok...

http://shainsmith.blogspot.com/

tacos for lunch...

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:09:00 +0000

http://shainsmith.blogspot.com/

Elder Smith 07 Dec 2009

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:42:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:56:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:37:00 +0000

Elder Smith 23 nov 2009

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:37:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:45:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (RenoCon) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:03:00 +0000

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