We are hiking machines up here in the land of Polochik!

Hey THERE!!
It’s so crazy that I have hit 11 months! I almost can’t even believe it! So much has happened but yet the time has really flown by!!!

So this week we were not able to teach Ismael but we did set another fecha! So we have 2 fechas (baptism commitments) for the 19th of Feb, so I will most likely be here for that. They are both kids though. Waldemar and Miguel Ramon. Ages 14 and 17. But they are great and really have a desire to learn more and they even come to church without us passing by their houses. Waldemar's brother is also one of the best members, he is 19. So things are going so much better here!! We even had 6 investigators in church! So we shall see how things go this upcoming week. We are definitely still working hard, but it is tough finding minimal success. There have been like 6 baptisms here in Santo Domingo in the last 10 years! So its really tough, but we are still trying to do what the Lord wants us to do. Nothing else we can really do right? But we are finding little pieces of success so thats always uplifting.
This last week we hiked up to a place called Mocca! It takes a little over 2 hours to get there. It’s about 5 to 6 miles away and almost straight up. If you don’t believe me that we did it that fast, well you better believe! We are hiking machines up here in the land of Polochik! We could probably go up and down Mt. Timpanogos in a matter of 6 and a half hours no doubt! Anyways, we found some cool people up there and a lot of the people there speak Spanish! Crazy right!? So we shall see when we head back up there. Probably next week.

Also during the week, just hiking to people's houses we saw 2 flocks of bright green parrots that were flying over our head. It was completely amazing!

So we are in an area called El Estor right now and this internet place is crazy! There are like 8 Xboxes and half of them are being used for playing the new call of duty! I wish I could play haha. It takes a really long time to get here so we only go here every once and a while....

That’s crazy that grandma and grandpa are moving out of our basement! I guess it leaves the place for me when I'm married and super poor huh? Ha ha!!

That’s sweet about Tanner's mission call. And everyone else too! Congratulate them all for me please!

Thats super crazy about the NFL playoffs. I almost can't even believe it at all!!! Sick about BYU basketball stuff too. I don't know if i can cheer for the freakin Ducks. Ha ha! Go Tigers. I guess I will find out next week though, huh?

I wish I had a lot more to say to you all this week! But we are still working hard and doing all we can to get something going in our area. We even had all 3 hours of church....it was practically a miracle!

Never ever complain about doing your laundry! This is how we get our laundry up and down the mountain about a mile or so to the lady that washes our clothes. I've just about mastered this head carrying thing like the people here!

Well I love you all and I hope you have a great one!


PS I got my new missionary nametag in Q'eqchi' today!!!

Keep the Faith
Kawaq lee Paab'al

Stay Strong
Kawaq Eerib'

With Love
Rik'in Rahok

Elder Jordan Smith