Transferred, New Mission Schedule

Wow! So I got transfered and now I'm in Los Olivos. What a difference from my last area...big change of scenery! Not a single street here that is sand, everything is paved. Did I mention lots of paved roads? Oh, there are lots of tall buildings, lots of good restaurants, and most importantly, lots of people ready to hear the restored gospel. The members here are awesome.

And.....my companion is a gringo! His name is Elder Romero from Mesa Arizona.

Elder Romero and Elder Smith

My last area in Villa Ancón was in the Puente Piedra Stake, Miramar Ward, and now I'm in the Los Olivos Stake, Huandoy Ward. So in this ward there have been sister missionaries for over 2 years, and my companion and I are opening area as the first elders in a long time. It was crazy, when we were with the zone leaders and all our suitcases looking for our room, we were so lost. We tried looking up in the contact list in the cell phone someone who might know where to go. We called the bishop and he was super helpful, in literally 2 minutes he met up with us, took us to our room, and immediately took Elder Romero and me on a tour of the area to get to know the limits and various members. And not only is the bishop super onboard and helpful, but like every member we've talked to has been giving us references and offering to accompany us. While we've had a few normal struggles that have to do with opening an area, I am super excited to work in this ward.

We received the schedule changes for our mission that was put into place by the missionary department. Our mission president has applied the things that were announced and made some changes specific to our location in the world. Starting today, here's our schedule:

• 7:00 am - wake up
• 7:00-10:30 am - exercise, get ready, eat breakfast, daily planning, personal study
• 10:30am-4:00 pm - proselyting (when convenient between our appointments, lunch, companionship and language study)
• 4:00-9:00 pm - full proselyting
• 9:00-10:00 pm - options continue proselyting if we have appointments or return home to update area book, eat dinner, write in journal, etc.
• 11:00 pm - sleep.

Yeah it's a big change for us. Or at least it feels like it. It's now way more independent, not just the same thing every day. We can use our agency more to study at more convenient times and be able to teach families that are only all together later at night.

Hope you have a great week!! 

Elder Evan Smith