Wk 25 - Libertador (name of the ward i am in)

Companion: Elder Gonzalez
Area: Chillan

a member came to say good bye

Elder Pavon and I leaving from Andalein

well i got to say it is nice to have a different view of things and to be in another area! this week was pretty dang good! this past week we had 4 people commtited to baptism! 

but the part that was bad is only 2 came to church. Miguel is going to be baptized this saturday and Elsa is going to be baptized the 13th of December so that's cool! we are going to keep working with the other 2 to come to church! i am learning a lot from my companion right now and i am enjoying teaching right now.

Well now it is time for the story i have! this week nothing crazy really happened but we talked to this guy who did not like gringos(people from united states). he was just going on and on how he didn't like them and he was a little drunk and all i said is well i like chile. it was pretty funny though and it was just an old guy who doesn't like gringos and blames the USA for everything haha. 

something new is we have 1 hour on the computer which is less time and 40 mins to skype on christmas just so you guys know!

i want you guys to know that all is good and i love being here. i live with 2 latinos and 1 other american. elder jensen, elder sanchez, and my comp is elder gonzalez. i will send some photos of elder pavon and i when we left the house in Andalien and a member that came to say bye. 

love you mom and family! i hope you all have a wonderful week. i will take more pictures next week of my sector. i took a video of my house but this computer doesn't have the program to translate the video so i can't send it. i will take pics of the house! 

love you guys

Elder Smoot

questions/answers:

*tell us about your new area!:

well it is a lot bigger so i walk a ton! as well it is a lot hotter here than other areas so it is nice. i love the heat right now! i sweat a lot but it is only going to get hotter! 

yeah i will take more pics next week. this area is a lot safer so i just didnt take much pics because i was getting use to everything

- the travel to your new area:

i rode a bus that was nice and big with some other elders

-your new companion

elder gonzalez is way legit. we get along real good and he knows a ton of english. he is from columbia but knows a ton of english. we most talk in spanish though

-the ward?:

it is a ward ( barrio in spanish) and the members are nice but they just dont have a desire to work with us much so that kind of sucks

*do you do anything for Thanksgiving!?:

no we walk around and talk for thanksgiving and teach lessons

Wk 24 - ¡Me voy a la Chillan!

Companion: Elder Ramos
Area: Andalein

 the breakfast we had with our zone before they announced transfers
(yes i do cut my own hair right now)

the package 

This week was pretty good! i really enjoyed this transfer with my comp from brazil! i learned a little Portuguese for tanner and everything!;) i am excited to go to chillan and i heard it is a cool place but very hot in the summer! right now in the mission i feel pretty good and i really did love the members here in Andalien! i will be about 2 hours from the mission office so i don't know if i will be able to check if i have mail every week! but its all right! i am excited to get a different view of things. i feel like i have been in Andalien forever! haha 

I want to share a spiritual experience that i had. We were teaching one of the converts that i had Lorena and Ignacio. it was yesterday that we went to their house and this time something was different. she didn't seem so happy she was on edge with her kids and she didn't seem too happy. as we saw that she didn't come to the stake conference we had earlier that day and she hadn't been reading the scriptures and didn't do anything that we had asked to do. just so you guys know she always reads and always is the nicest lady and always does what we commit her to do after the lessons. we found out that she hadn't been reading and well hadn't been feeding herself spiritually speaking. i saw the difference in her and in the lesson she told us that she feels a difference when she is doing the things to feed herself spiritually. she told us that she is happy even during times that are hard and it was really powerful to me.

what i really wanted to say is that is so important to read every day and pray sincerely so we can have the strength and the help from God during those times that are hard. that experience stood out to me and was a testimony builder and how important it is to read every day and the blessings we will receive from that.

anyway i am happy to be here and i love doing what i am doing. i am grateful for you guys and all the support that i receive. i am sending a package today with letters for christmas so you might get it after christmas i don't know! but i love you guys so much and i hope you guys have a wonderful week!:)

Elder Smoot

Thanks for the picture Carlos!

Despidiendo a Elder pavón y Elder smoot

some questions/answers:

*Do you know about transfers yet? 

yes and i am changing to Chillan! it is 2 hours away from the office so i cant go to the mission office every week anymore!

*tell us about your experience last week!?

mom it really was nothing i will it explain it on christmas more yeah? but basically we ran into some people who took our stuff!  i have my camera still no worries because before we started working i took my camera out i dont know why but i just did so it was cool that the lord was looking out for me-i just had my spanish scriptures but i have new ones now and my hymn book in spanish and thats basically it. oh and the tie bar from tanner was in the bag i forgot it was in there so they took that. i am really bumbed about that.-i had the shoulder bag on when they took it. so i dont have it anymore

Wk 23 - God is always watching out for those missionaries!

Companion: Elder Ramos
Area: Andalein

one of my zone leaders elder miranda

tannner mancill he is our stake and jenna's friend
he is in the mission concepcion south and I saw him in the office-
(we share offices with the South mission)

so i will write hand written letters to all of you this week and answer all of your letters!

i am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary! i want you guys to know that i love you all so much and i pray for all of you every day multiple times a day!! this past week my testimony has been strengthened about how God is always watching out for those missionarys! all i want you to know mom is i am ok and i am very happy.

i would like a new little hymn book in Spanish if you could do that:) just know i am so grateful for your prayers and i do love this gospel so much!

this week i was with my companion and we were teaching a lesson and he said a word in portuguese and it was pretty funny! i guess those misionarys who know portuguese and spanish it is hard for them at times to speak one language or the other because some of the words are the same! i like having this comp because he is teaching me some words in portuguese as well! 

my companion and i are having a hard time finding people and yeah right now it is a difficult time. we walk a lot. we do contacting we have lessons with recent converts and less actives and we knock doors and referrals we use a little bit. when we get them we use them. the truth is we always find less actives and they don't want anything but i feel like the times that it is hard to find people you grow the most. i think that is true because you learn to depend on the gospel for your happiness and god.

i love how much i have learned about the scriptures. there is one scripture in Alma 13:24 that talks about how angels are here on the earth preparing the hearts of men to receive the gospel and that scripture brought me so much happiness.

i hope you all have a wonderful week and it brings me so much joy to see how happy my family is! love you all!!

Elder Smoot

Wk 22 - ¡Todo bien en Chile!

Companion: Elder Ramos
Area: Andalein

well this week was pretty good! every Wednesday we play soccer so that's always fun! 

one thing that happened is one of our recent converts well she was baptized like 7 months ago and she died from old age this past week! we always visited her and her daughter was always with her in the house and this past Sunday they had the funeral in the church after church and the daughter talked to us a little bit before the funeral. she expressed how grateful she is for the missionaries and having them always visit her mom and it was cool to see because her daughter is a less active and is participating in another church and she was expressing how grateful she was for the missionaries. i hope that she can find her way back to the true church. we are going to continue to visit the daughter and hopefully we can help her out.

i really have no idea what to write! one thing that i have learned here on the mission is to depend on the gospel and the spirit to bring me happiness and comfort. i am grateful for the comfort that i can have when i am so far away from home. it is a testimony builder how true this church is. i know without a doubt this church is true and there is nothing i would rather be doing than sharing the happiness i have. 

i just want to thank you mom for the dog dazer thing that you sent me! it has brought me a of entertainment! haha i will just be walking in the street and a dog will start barking. i use the thing and that dog just runs right off! its like magic! haha but there are some dogs that just get more mad and that's when we just walk the other way! haha!

 i enjoy my new companion and he is a great guy! we have 2 more weeks left with this transfer and it has gone by so fast!

one thing that i have learned and i am so grateful for is it is more important to please God than men. 

i hope you all have a wonderful week and i love you all!!

Elder Smoot