Wk 30 - Happy New Year Already?

Companion: Elder Gonzales
Area: Chillan

Elder Hancock,
elder garder who came with me to the mission from arizona

 elder catron from argentina

 elder herrera from washington

 elder gonzalez from chile

 elder mcarthur from my high school

 christmas morning

Elder Hancock

i would be lieing to say the time isn't going fast. this week has gone by so fast and we had transfers today and i am still with the same comp for another transfer. it was weird to see all the missionaries that finished their missions yesterday. it was kinda hard to see elder hancock and other missionarys leave but i sure am grateful for them. i will see hancock next week with his parents as well in church.

on christmas we played games like soccer in the church with 2 other zones from chillan. i am not going to lie i kinda miss using my hands in sports. haha all the latins want to play soccer and thats it! haha its all good i enjoy  it as well!! 

this christmas was a little different this year! obviously because i am not in my house and all but as well because i focused a little more on christ. in the streets we talked about how He is the gift in our lives. how we can obtain the happiness in our lives and the peace in our lives through him. personally i really did enjoy christmas this year. i did miss the snow and it was weird because christmas day was so hot but i had a wonderful christmas. i would have never thought i would enjoy christmas being away from my family but i definitely did. i love you guys a ton!

no we dont do anything for new years we just walk in the streets and teach lesson like normal i am pretty sure! well i love you guys a ton. and it was way nice to speak some spanish with austin!! haha i am going to send some pics of some of the elders that finished their missions.

love,

elder smoot

Wk 29 - Merry Christmas!!

Companion: Elder Gonzalez
Area: Chillan

took this pic this morning before we left the house!
elder jensen and elder sanchez from argentina

well first of all it does not feel like christmas at all! haha yes there are a lot of decorations up and all but its like hot outside so its weird! thats really strange it has been raining in Utah!!

but this week it went by really fast! i cant even remember what i did! all i know is people there are so many things to do in the mission it is crazy! i am excited to talk to you guys this week! that will be crazy!! 

the family of elsa is awesome! elsa lives with her grand daughter and her family but elsa was baptized recently and she has a really strong testimony! it is so cool to see!!

i loved seeing those pictures of the temple! looks like you guys are having a good time!!!

when ever i see my family is happy it brings me a ton a joy.

today i am going to have a carne asado (bbq) with elder hancock and elder pavon becaue they finish their missions in like 1 week! it is so crazy to see how time flies here!! i am sure going to miss seeing elder hancock around!

tomorrow something is going to happen that is pretty cool! the whole mission is coming the chillan which is our church. our church is like the center of the mission and we are going to have all the mission in one church so that will be crazy!! that is going to happen tomorrow!

one thing that is cool i just kept forgetting to tell you this that there is a member in our ward that got back from her mission like 2 months ago and she came from santiago! (Arzola is her name) she showed me a pic with all the missionaries in her mission and i saw a familiar face! i saw nick spinder and she knew who he was and everything! she said he was really quiet and i said yep thats him!! haha it was a cool connection!

i hope you guys have a wonderful week! i love you all so much!!

Elder Smoot

Wk 28 - Elsa´s Baptism!!

Companion: Elder Gonzalez
Area: Chillan

Elsa's Baptism!

Well as you can see all went well with the baptism of Elsa! We had a wondeful experience and i loved it a ton!

for this christmas we were thinking about writing at 3 on christmas day if that would work for you guys? it would be like 11 there i think!

its so crazy how fast time goes here! i cant believe it is half way through december! i cant believe it hasnt snowed there yet! the family of elsa has little kids and so i think i am going to give them that little tie! this family is so cool! they were inactive and are now returning to the church and are saving money for the temple in april!! it is great to see the sacrifices people make!

We found a family of 2 that are pretty golden investigators. it is a mom and her son! the son is called mateas. which is matthew! and the mom is aurora! we did find them using the 'he is the gift!'

it is awesome here! it is just weird to see all the christmas stuff but it is pretty hot outside!! i do love this work! I will see if i can get the skype thing working for you guys by the way! 

I just want you guys to know that over this time on the mission the gospel has become the most important thing to me!! yes i do miss you guys a ton! 

i hope all is well with you guys and one experience that i had at the baptism was awesome. after her baptism people were sharing their testimonies and elsa began to cry and this old lady felt the spirit so strongly and it was a moment when i felt so much joy.

i hope you guys can strengthen your testimonies every day!! 

Elder Smoot

Wk 27 - Christmas is hot this year!!

Companion: Elder Gonzalez

Area: Chillan

from the Christmas package
(had to take some out because it got wet!)

From the mission blog during interviews last week (Concepcion Mission Blog)

The week was quick! every week goes by way fast so i will start will last monday. i went back to concepcion to get my ID card for chile and it is about a an hour and a half from chillan to there and i stood up the whole time! haha it was pretty awful but oh well!! i got to the office and i found my package and i was happy to see my christmas package!!:) it was a pain to carry it all the way back to chillan! haha it was so heavy! we walked so far that day and i was carrying it all day! 

So this week we will have another baptism of Elsa. She is a little cute grandma and she is awesome! her family were all less actives and now the whole family is going to church again and they are awesome! they got 4 kids that are all little! the dad is preparing to recieve the mel. priesthood and he is going to baptize his oldest son that just turned 8. it is awesome to peoples testimonies grow! 

we had a miracle that happened this week and it was when i went with another elder to teach this less active and we got there and she had her sister over from another area. so we taught the restoration and it was a really good lesson! i think it was one of the best lessons i have taught about the restoration. at the end of the lesson the sister of the less active told us yes i know everything you guys said is true. so we wrote down her address and we gave it to the sisters who work over there. so they will continue to teach her!

it is wonderful down here. my sector is huge so we walk a ton and in this area we have members wash our clothes for us so thats nice!!

i will talk to you guys about the skype thing when i know! i will try to figure that out this week! i hope you guys are good!! have a wonderful week!!

Elder Smoot

Wk 26 - Baptism!!

Companion: Elder Gonzalez
Area: Chillan

the baptism of Miguel

 Walmart (Lider in Chile)

So this week we had a baptism and it was wonderful. My companion and I are seeing miracles from obedience and it is just awesome. A little bit more about Miguel is he was a Evangelico before and last week he was supposed to be baptized but his daughter was telling him stuff that wasn't true about our church and about Joseph Smith and so he backed out last week. So my comp and I we explained everything again about the restoration and we got him to get a testimony for himself. as you can see he was baptized and is probably one of the happiest people i have every met. it was just a good experience seeing people receive the blessings of the Lord. 

We have been working with a lot of people  but they arent progressing because they dont go to church. and we have Elsa who is going to be baptized on the 13th of december so we are excited for that. 

My new area is huge!! we walk a lot more and there is more field and open area.

Time goes pretty fast but the days are always so long. by the time i get in my bed i am out and then the next day starts like 2 seconds later it feels like

I have one funny story from this week. so we got into this house and this is an old man and his name is Leon(it means lion in english) and we found out he did not like those gringos(white people). as we told him our names he kept saying he couldnt understand me and in reality he wasnt listening to me. he asked me why all the northern americans have names like Smith!? i was like my name is Smoot! haha he thought that i was just a relative of Joseph Smith and thats why i wanted to share this message with him. anyway we found out he just had something wrong with (against) those whites kids! haha

well this week we had a annoucement about how we are sharing and helping people focus on jesus christ this christmas. i am sure dad has heard of it and helped with it i am not sure but the new video about christmas. it is called, he is the gift. It is a way cool video and we have cards to give to people about focusing on jesus christ. it is pretty cool how the church is doing this and sharing the importance of christmas with everyone!

well i hope you all have a wonderful week and by the way i completely forgot it was thanksgiving! 

Elder Smoot

questions/answers:

*tell me about your new comPanion!

from columbia and i like him because we are both exactly obedient because sadly there are missionaries that arent

*what was your best day this week? And why? 

i think it was the baptism because it was the day you see work pay off

*did you get your Christmas package yet? 

i have the package in my hands right now. no worries.:)