Wk 56 - It's getting cold!

Companion: Elder Duarte

Area: Talchuano

I am looking at all those pics and i am thinking that would be nice to be in summer now! haha it isnt like it is way cold here it is just that heated buildings hardley exist here! haha i am sitting here writing and i can barely move my fingers! haha its all good! well this past week it was way good! we brought an investigator to the church and he has a date to be baptized the 11th of july but we hope everything will work out all right!

When we were walking in the street and i knew that an old investigator lived in a house and so we went to knock on his door and he opened the door and we taught him the lesson and he accepted a date for baptism. it was pretty cool!! i am loving my time here. 

One thing we do a lot here with the members is divisions and i am always with Darwin ayala. the guy that has is twin brother in utah. Darwin is like my best friend here! he is way sick!! he is like 32 and served his mission in argentina. eveything is going good with elder duarte my comp and we are just going at it. i honestly love leaving the house to go to work. at first i will be honestly i didnt like it that much but not it is pretty sweet to go out and talk to some people about the gospel!! well i hope all is well with you guys! seems like you all are staying buisy! have a good week!!

love , elder smoot

Wk 55 - First week being a Trainer

Companion: Elder Duarte
Area: Talchuano

the member stepped in some mud when he was walking with us. 

This first week was pretty good!! it is kinda wierd we only have 2 elders in the house and in the whole branch but its all right! I enjoy it though! We had a good solid week! it was one of those weeks that just went by super fast! we do divisions a lot with the members so we can cover more ground! we are finding some people too as we go and hopefully they will be able to progress!! i am excited for this next week though!! 

i got some pics of the chile game! i am enjoying watching soccer!! haha it is kinda weird because before i never liked it that much but now it isnt too bad!! i got a jersery from a member when i was in chillan and i always wear it over my white shirt during the games!! haha its pretty funny! i even got a favorite player que se llama vargas! he is pretty sick! but i am enjoying it! 

this next week i was asked to give a talk sunday so i will be doing that on sunday! 

the best part of this week was to see that there was a ton of people that went to church! this past week we had 92 which is a lot for the branch! it was nice to see all the people come!!:) a lot of the members take a bus to church and always there is this one bus that brings the majority of the people! it is pretty funny! we watch this bus stop in front of the church and a lot of the members walk off and we call it the mormon bus! its pretty funny because it happens like every week when a bus comes and drops a ton of people of right in front of the church!! 

well it is crazy to see how happy you guys are and everything is going good here as well!! 

love you guys a ton and i hope you have a great week!!!

elder smoot

Wk 54 - transfers!!

Companion: Elder Copling
Area: Talchuano

dunkin donuts this morning

 i am getting bit a little! haha

elder withers is our zone leader who finished his mission today. he is from idaho

so this was pretty crazy what happened! last night president calls my comp as zone leader in linares so that was pretty crazy! elder haws and elder duarte who live with us, elder haws got a call from president too to be a zone leader! so what they did is they took out 2 missionarys in our house and now i am a trainer finishing the training of elder duarte! so i will live alone with my comp! it definitely will be weird! but i am very excited for this transfer! 

So just as i told you before that elder mitton who lives close to us finished his mission today. his parents came here to pick him up! he will be home next week and i gave him a letter that he will give to you guys Monday or tuesday! so you will get to know him! he was a hard worker here and finished his mission as an assistant. So you will get to know him! Fast mailing system right!? 

This past week i want to share an experience that was very cool. we went to visit a member and she took us in her daughters house that lived next door because her house was dirty or i am not sure what the reason was but we sat down and started to talk and we found out that her daughter served a mission and was inactive for some hard things that have happened in her life. Her name is Roxana and she has a very strong testimony. We shared helaman 5:12 and we asked if she could read it. she started to read the first line and couldnt finish the first line as it felt like the spirit entered the room and she started crying. I felt i got hit by the spirit too and we commited her to start reading and praying again and to go to church. in that moment she was excited to go to church but she ended up getting sick and didnt go but that experience was way cool! i felt the spirit so strongly in that moment. We will keep working with her and get her to church! 

Well i got lots to do today too! i told you guys that we have permission to watch chile play in the copa de america so we are going to an investigators house tonight to watch it! it will be sweet!! i actually enjoy watching soccer now too!! haha i have changed a bit!

know that i love you guys and i am always praying for you guys!! take care!!

elder smoot

Wk 53 - New Bro in law?

Companion: Elder Copling
Area: Talchuano

my comp and i where we study

my comp came out of the bathroom like a nerd haha

a bug we found in the church 

That is good to see some pics of the wedding!! where did you guys do the reception? sounds like it went all good! gosh it is good to see a pic of the temple! haha one day i will be able to go! 

haha well this past week was pretty good!! the other elders had 2 baptisms. 2 little girls got baptized and it was pretty good! 

this past Sunday there seemed to be a certain theme throughout the whole church. we talked about the priesthood. it was way cool! my comp and I talked a little to the young women yesterday in church about the priesthood and it was way cool! in elders quorum we talked about the priesthood too! it was way cool! yesterday one of the members Darwin who is a good friend of ours asked us in the morning to give a blessing to him. So we did that and actually when we were working we gave a blessing to a less active who was sick because she asked us and it was way cool. And wednesday i believe it was a member called me because i was actually working with a returned missionary who just got back from his mission so i was on divisions and this member said hey can you come and give a blessing to a girl who got burned. it felt like this whole past week it was filled just with priesthood things! i dont know it was kinda cool! i was able to strengthen my testimony about the priesthood!!

next week you know there are transfers and elder mitton who lives in josh marshs ward will get home. he curently is the assistent to the president right now but just so you know a missionary that lives close to us will get home soon! pretty cool! and today our misson president gave a us permission to watch the copa de america! we can only watch chile play and if we arent watching it we have to be in our house cleaning or studying so i think my comp and i this week will find an investigator and watch the games!! pretty cool! huh? i dont know it feels so weird to be able to watch a soccer game! haha 

well just know that all is well and i am very happy. I am soooo grateful for the gospel in my life! almost every day i listen to a message called the mission and the atonement by erying and jeffery r holland and it pumps me up to go out and work every day! its a cool video if you want to look it up! 

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

elder smoot 

Wk 52 - One Year!

Companion: Elder Copling
Area: Talchuano

It is crazy i will complete one year out here on the mission!! it is crazy how fast time goes by! 

THis week has kinda been frustrating but good. We are struggling to find some chosen people. we can get into houses but for to people to accept the message has been kinda difficult! But we do have a lesson with the Grandma of Carlos. Carlos was the kid that got baptized a little while ago. His grandma seems pretty good so i am excited! we will have to see what happens!! 

We had a simposio (I have no idea how to say it in english) yesterday. The simposio they explained the evidence that the Book of Mormon is true. they showed on google maps where lehi traveled with his family and showed a ton of evidence and it was way cool!! i loved the experience there! there was a lot of people that went too! 

On the way home it started to rain and we got on the bus to go home and we got on the bus with alot of members of the church as well. We started to sing hymns on the bus and obviously that was out of my confort zone but then i just didnt care and sang anyway! haha it was way cool!! 

anyway i love you guys and hope you have a wonderful week!!! 

elder smoot