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!!