We continue the "Two for One" theme now that Mark & Cody have Monday P-days

Mark

ayooo!

I´m in the field now! The travel wasn´t too bad, but I’m quite tired and I haven’t even figured out who my new companion is, nor my area.  The furthest area from the mission home is 7 hours away, so if I get assigned there, I wont show up until midnight based on how fast these interviews are going.

Saying goodbye at the CCM wasn´t as bad as I thought, but I do miss my friends, especially because the elders who are going to Puebla with me aren´t my first choice, but also aren´t my last choice, so it could be worse.

It´s only been a couple of hours but I already know I am in for a humbling experience.  These guys are speaking Spanish so fast I don’t know how to react

One cool thing though.  I was the only gringo who memorized D&C 4 in Spanish, so when we all recited it, the latinos and I were reciting from memory while the other 3 gringos were reading from their scriptures.  

love ya’ll, my p days will be on Mondays from now on and apparently we get two hours to email, which is a bit much for me but who knows.

Mom, tell grandma smiley I loved her letter she sent me, it was given to me during orientation and I got weird looks from everyone. Haha!

-elder smiley the younger

Not sure the premise behind this picture, but it was of Mark.

Not sure the premise behind this picture, but it was of Mark.

Cody

This week was nuts

The dad of the familia Alvarez Ponce received the priesthood not only of Aaron but the other one! I do not know how to write it sorry!

We had a great time playing today with Eddy! oh he is my favorite!

Eddy made us crepes to celebrate!

Funny moment!!!!!!! Eddy’s wife calls all scared while we were giving the priesthood to the dad of the familia Alvarez Ponce.  So we rush to the house and barge in and she says there is a cockroach over there!!!!!!  So we laugh and we kill it.  Later Eddy says and that is how missionaries and members should work together for the work of the lord! JJAAJAJAJAJAJA!!

Prayer list

Allison 

Uriel

It is two for one on the Blog

Monday 23 October 2017

Well this week was sooooo funny and great!!!!!!!!!!!!

The familia Alvarez got baptized and it was a hoot!!!!!!! Scott and the mom asked me to baptize them and gosh it was a day!!!!!!!!!!

We had tons of challenges getting ready for the baptism.   The church did not have water so we could not fill the font.  So like for an hour I was freaking out!!! Elder Cornejo is so relaxed.  Nothing ever bothers him. I hate it but it is still all good.  Once we got all of our stuff good and settled we were good.  Later when the family showed up we realized that we had never found good white clothes for the baptism.  So we just obtained a ton of clothes and we spent 45 mts getting everyone situated and prepared for the baptism.  We had fun though.  We were laughing with the family, as they had to try on so many different pairs of clothes on to find something that fit!!!!!!!!!  Finally, we are going to the font to baptize!!!! The mom has a fear of water.......... let alone the water is freaking cold....... so I say the prayer and I quickly baptize her. It was sooooooooo funny!!!!!! Later, I baptize Scott and nothing cool happened there.  After the baptism, as Scott was walked back to get changed into his church clothes he fell down because his pants we re too long.  None of us could stop laughing at that point. JAJAJAJAJAJAJA!!!!!!!!!!

Later we celebrated with tacos.  Hoooooo those are good tacos!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I also confirmed the same people and today we have a noche de hogar planned with them so it has been a good change with Elder Cornejo!!!!!!!! 

Love

Elder Cody Smiley

Wednesday 25 October 2017

So for the most part everyday has good stuff that i forget to write about so I apologize but it's like inside jokes of our district so you guys wouldn’t even find it entertaining anyway

I got pretty sick on Monday, I was feeling a lot of pain all over my body when I moved and it was getting me really tired, but I said a hardcore prayer last night and told heavenly father I had the faith to be healed, and woke up the next morning spry and healthy, and ready to memorize yet another scripture at 5:30 in the morning.  Good stuff. There’s another missionary in my ward who is sick and has been with the same thing as me for like 5 days now.

MOM, PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH FUTURE MISSIONARIES.  READ THE WHOLE PMG AND MARK IT.  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO THAT SO YOU WILL BE SO PREPARED AND IT WILL BLESS YOU WITH SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE.

This is gonna be kinda long-ish, but bear with me because its gonna be a funny story:

So I had to get a tetanus shot before I left the CCM, so I walk in and tell them what I need and they guide me to a room, and the guy pulls out a syringe that would've scared Ron Swanson.  I kid you not the needle was 2.5 inches long, and the fluid inside could’ve filled a roll of quarters.  I was like "Wow, that’s a pretty intimidating needle but its chill because “alls i gotta get is a tetanus shot."  HOMIE-G SAYS I GOTTA GET THE SHOT IN MY BELLY BUTTON, AND THAT THE WHOLE LIQUID IS GOING TO BE INSERTED INTO MY BODY. As soon as my comp heard, he bailed.  He left the room and left me to suffer alone. Jerk.  Anyhow, I sat there and argued with him for a solid 10 minutes about how that was not supposed to be what happens, and finally, I thought "Well, I gotta get it.”  So I sat down, told him I was ready, and told him to get it over with.  At that point he finally broke and said that it was a joke and then pulled out the real needle, which looked like David compared to Goliath after seeing what was about to go in my belly button.  It’s a funny story but probably the most scared I’ve been in my life.

I’ve learned a lot about how cool the gift of tongues and diligence can be.  I made a goal to learn 60 words a day last week, along with 8 phrases and 1 scripture.  It was really hard, but since, I’ve memorized over 265 words in 5 days, along with 1 Nefi 3:7, alma 48:17, Moses 1:39, Mosiah 3:19, alma 41:10, and all of section 4 in the doctrine and covenants.  It’s good stuff. Missionary work is incredible and I can see God’s divine help in my learning the language.

Anyhow I hope you enjoyed my terrifying story. I gots to go

-Elder Smiley, the younger

Elder Smiley the younger is getting tired of the CCM it sounds like!!

My mind is not in the game right now but ill do my best.

best part of this week has by far been the volleyball. I converted most everyone in my district to volleyball and we've been playing it every day during gym time.  Me and Elder Fullmer destroyed one time when no one wanted to play, so he and I got a different team together and stayed on the court for every 5 point game, because the losing team rotates off haha we DESTROYED THEM much like the saint motel song.

It’s been a lot of studying and language learning this week.  Just like every other week in the CCM, but we had a couple of good spiritual moments.  

The lessons have been so basic it's killing me.  This week we learned how to conjugate in present tense.  Present tense was taught the first month of Spanish 1 in freaking junior high.

It’s been nice to help teach the other homies in the district though, but they gotta learn to be a bit more focused and diligent

Quick cool thought my district leader shared this week.  Tithing is giving the lord back 10% of what he has blessed you with right? so he said that we're all around 20 years old, and we've been blessed and prepared our whole lives, so now it's time to give 10% back.

Wouldn’t be surprised if you had heard it before, but it was cool to think about.  

Love yall, don't make stupid decisions, and if you do, email me about it I’d love a good story

Standard CCM photo

Comforting when Elder Smiley Senior is with a companion he likes, and a ward he likes.

This week was very different...

With Elder Barragan gone, now the district has changed so much.

A friend of mine from Aguas is the new district leader, and he has helped me a lot! 

Just someone there for me helping me teach!!!!!!

We have taught la familia Alvarez Ponce a lot, and they look ready for Saturday!!! They just need the answer to their prayers!!!!!!!!  

Funny story! It was a birthday for one of our investigators.  He likes the Dallas Cowboys so I bought him a football. We went and threw it around.  Everyone was so surprised that I could throw a football so far.  I got a crowd to watch me, it was so funny!

I felt like Dad in Japan when he would throw the frisbee in the parks and contact everyone there jajajaja!!!!!

We are continuing to play soccer in P days with my favorite members ever, and they just love me here! It is the best to be in Sauzalito!

Here is a note from Cody’s companion:

hello sister'm elder Cornejo companion elder Smiley, I congratulate you very much for exemplary son who has helped me a lot, it is the best partner I've had so far, indeed the time I have been serving with his son has been wonderful we have had the blessing of baptizing, indeed his son teaches with great spiritual power, is an exemplary missionary and I want to thank you for allowing your child is in the mission, their dedication to the Lord's work is worth admiring . greetings to all your family has told me all about you and that you are an extraordinary family.

I remain at your disposal for anything

atte: elder Cornejo