Wk 82 - ¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Companion: Elder Anderson
Area: Tome´

some decorations they had of the temple that is going to be in Concepcion

some friends from the mission as well

the shovel used in the ground breaking for the temple

a crazy member in our ward named fito

some of my gifts and the dinner on christmas eve

we went to chillan so my comp could buy soveniours
and this is just a big catholic church there

well first of all it was good to see you guys on christmas day. I think that is one of the greatest gift one can receive is to be able to see their family on christmas. It is always fun to see you guys!! 

I am doing so well here. i love all the good times and the hard times as well! This past week as you know we had a christmas conference with the whole mission. it was good to hear a talk from our mission president and his wife. one thing they talked about that i just loved was when they were preparing to come on the mission they had an apostle visit them. I cant remember which one it was but they told them how they could measure their success as mission presidents. they said they will know if they were successful not in a few years after but decades after when the kids of those missionaries they served are sealed in the temple. it was pretty cool to hear that and that was something that stood out to me. the conference theme was a temple theme and they had a shovel from the ground breaking there and we were able to take pics and it was a really fun experience! 

it was  a good last christmas in the mission. we ate dinner and christmas eve with the peñailillo family. i know it is a crazy name!! haha they are way cool! they gave us some little gifts and that was really nice of them! 

i will be sending pics of the week but i love you guys!! have a great week!!

elder smoot

Feliz Navidad

Elder Smoot is on the left side- back row of Elders- 3rd from the left :) 

Wk 81 - la semana de la navidad (Christmas Week)

Companion: Elder Anderson
Area: Tome

most of the tomé zone. we have 4 elders that are missing that are from sectors that are far away so they weren't there that day. we made a temple for the christmas conference. every zone had to make a little temple to decorate the conference! we did the salt lake temple!!

just so you know real quick we had a member that went kayaking in the ocean and no one has heard from him since. he was a member of the church but thats why i have a crab in my hand is we were on the beach looking for him and so we got together as a ward to go search for him but still he isnt found. it is kinda crazy and sad. i hope they will be able to find  him.

it is pretty crazy that the week of christmas is here. i am pretty excited to talk with you guys. this week we have a lot of things we got to do!! 

tomorrow i we will meet of with all the missionaries in the mission to have a christmas conference so that will be fun and then friday on christmas we will be in an activity playing games like soccer or dodge ball or something like that!! i will for sure be a blast!!! thats why we got to do skype a little bit later! it will be fun though!!! 

this past week has been a little bit a of roller coster as we have found some new investigators that are golden and our baptism fell through this past week at the last minute.. it was pretty crazy... manuel is the person that was going to be baptized and he had past his interview and everything. we had the baptismal font filled and as we were walking to the church he had been waiting outside the church and told us that he had gotten in a fight with his wife because she is from another religion and so he decided to avoid conflict he wasnt going to be baptized... it was very sad to hear that but he will be baptized another day. we will have to talk with his wife a bit. she is a very nice lady but i know satan works hard so people dont get baptized!!! 

right now we have claudia, diego, and carlos that are all golden and diego went to church and will be baptized in january and claudia got sick at the last moment and couldnt go so that was a bummer but carlos will be baptized the 5th of January so i am way excited for that. he is a members boyfriend but he is way cool as well. he is 20 yrs old. 

well there is my week and a lot of good and bad things happen but all in all i am very happy to be here. this is the best decision i have made to serve a mission!

elder smoot

Wk 80 - navidad viene pronto

Companion: Elder Anderson
Area: Tome

                                     the sunset

activity in our ward and i sang with the other missionaries

well this week has been amazing fast and awesome!! it is so crazy all the things we got to do during this time!! we will have a christmas conference in concepcion with the whole mission! we are in charge of making sure all the missionaries in the zone get there on time!! 

this past week my comp and i taught a zone class to the missionaries and that went really well. it lasted about an hour and a half. today we did an activity and went to a beach and a bbq!! it was way fun!! i got some pics!! it started raining and we had to run back to where the buses go by and we went to concepcion soaking wet on the bus. it was a pretty fun though!! 

we also got to organize a service activity for the zone and we are going to talk to a home care place and we will probably go sing to them! there is a lot of things we got to do! haha oh and we are making sure every person in this sector sees the video that ha nacido un salvador! 

i feel like there is never time for everything!! today we actually ordered hats for the missionaries in the zone and i made up the design! it was pretty cool!! i send a pic when we get the hats back!! as you can see i have been pretty busy but i love it!! it is so crazy at times but its the best!!! 

have a good week you guys and dont send me pics of my brothers crying!! haha 

dolly will be missed as well!! 

have a legit week!

ELDER SMOOT

Wk 79 - christmas season!

Companion: Elder Anderson
Area: Tome

i got to agree with you mom it is hard to be in the christmas spirit without some cold weather. now you know how i have felt! haha (Alan and I just spent a week in southern Florida and I told him it was so weird seeing Christmas decor without the snow and cold!)

I am loving this area honestly! it is so big but incredible!! i have seen some amazing things here. This past week we brought 2 investigators to church that have a baptismal date. their names are carlos and manuel. manuel he is an older guy and always shows up to church alone which is incredible!! he is awesome!! carlos is a young man he is like 20 yrs old por ahí. he is super cool and showed up to church with is girl friend and he is way cool! he plays in a band and has a crazy hair cut but i get along with him pretty well!! 

on saturday the lord helped us by putting carlos in our path when we were walking home and we talked to him and commited him to church right there! it was awesome! manuel told us he wasnt going to be able to go to church and still showed up!! it was another miracle. i asked him what changed his mind and he told me that his wife made him go and his wife is part of another religion! haha he is a jokester for sure!! 

anyway this week went by so fast that i didnt even take pics!!!:( i will take pics next week for sure!! well i love you guys and just so you know you have to tell me what time would be best to do skype? i would like to do it around 7 pm chile time! so you can let me know what would be best!!

 love you guys!!!

elder smoot

questions/answers:

*did you get to watch the first presidency Christmas devotional?no it was really late for us

*are you doing your 25 days of Christ?!yes thanks mom!! its pretty fun to open a present every day!! just so you know i wanted to wear the shoes to church yesterday so i took them out!! i will take really good care of those!!! i loved them!!

Wk 78 - tomé

Companion: Elder Anderson
Area: Tome

we did an activity of family search in a park in tomé

family tree. we had people random people write a name

 of a family member that had died on a tree in the park. it turned out great!!

i love my new sector and i am so happy here!! the ward seems pretty awesome and i think it is one of the biggest wards i have been in! this past sunday there was 113 people that went to church! we get a lot of help from the members too. 

this past week when i got here on monday i was told that a guy was going to be baptized and he ended up getting baptized in the ocean which would be the first time for me to see that! it was pretty cool! he was a guy names Luis and he had such a strong testimony and i was very impressed. 

the bishop in this ward is 31 yrs old. he is very young but a sharp guy. i am excited to be here and i hope i will be here for a long time!! i have a pic of the zone of tomé but we have transfers today so it will be different but i will send you some pics we took this past week!!

this past week my comp and i walked up a famous hill here called the cerro santo (holy hill) it was crazy. i got up to the top and i was sweating so bad!! haha normally people take a taxi to the top but the line was long so we just walked up! 

this past week this lady stopped her car and saw that my comp and i were getting a picture taken and she told me to go over there so i went over there to talk to her and she was like hey can we take a pic together? i was like huh.. sure.. it was kinda weird but she said that she wanted to show everyone her new boyfriend... then i told her it would be best if we didnt take a pic together and then she kinda made some inapropiate comments after that so it was kind of a weird experience! haha this week was really good though!! 

love you guys and have a wonderful week

elder smoot

questions/answers:

*how's your new companion? 

he will finish his mission this next transfer and he is from eagle idaho

*how's your new area?! 

beautiful with a LOT of hills haha and just in general the city is nicer. you should look up tomé on google maps or something! i am in the ward Tomé.

*your Christmas package?! 

i haven't seen anything just the protein but yeah everything was in it. it was easy to transfer because the assistants have a truck and they came and picked me up so it was a lot easier

*Is this zone bigger than in Penco? 

yeah it has a little more missionarys. most of it is sister missionarys

*is Sister Briggs in that zone? 

she is in my ward. i saw her a lot this past week because she works in the same sector but she just got transfered to another sector

*how often will you travel into Concepcion? 

i dont know today i went but i think we will stay here in tomé for p day because it is cheaper that way

Wk 77 - happy anniversary mom and dad!

Companion: Elder Andrade
Area: Penco

i did think about that last week after i had got off of the computer i thought about you guys and i was mad that i didnt write you guys last week about your anniversary! i am thankful for you guys and you two are definitely the best parents with out doubt!! 

well this past week was pretty crazy so saturday night i was walking back to the house and i got a call from an assistant and he told me i am leaving my sector  monday and i am going to tomé! it is very beautiful over there!! this could be my last sector!! i am very excited!! i will be with elder anderson who is from utah or idaho i am not sure.. 

It is kinda sad too because i love being with elder andrade and this sector here in penco has been way fun!! pablo found out i was leaving and he started crying a bit but today i will eat lunch with him for the last time and the assistants will be picking me up to go to tomé. 

i did do a mini cambio this past week with a new missionary. one thing they do here in the mission is when the new misisonarys have their first conference they do a mini cambio with a zone leader so thats what happened! it was fun and i did it with an elder from peru his name is elder chivana. 

i love you guys and it was good to hear from you all like always.

tanner has a beard and a half!! haha 

elder smoot 

questions & answers:

*did you get your package? It said it was delivered:

sweet!! i didnt go to concepcion today but i called the other elders that live with us so they will be bringing it!! haha thats kinda mean because its probably heavy!! haha its all right!!

*do you do anything for Thanksgiving? 

no nothing

*does Chile celebrate the Christmas season? 

yes they do but it isnt as big as it is in the US but its weird because it is hot here so you cant fully have christmas spirit! haha

*you're getting transferred today?
i am still a zone leader just in another sector. i know its because they brought in a new assistant so i am replacing him where he was. they always do it a week earlier for someone that is a new assistant