Wk 37 - new comp and happy v day!!

Companion: Elder Ronco
Area: Chillan

A zone activity we had today!

so we went to visit some people in an aparment and it was sweet. we took a selfie in the elevator.

(Elder Ronco is legit. he has a ton of time.
he finishes in 2 transfers so after this one he has one more left and he is done.
 he is really relaxed and chill. i think he is one of my favorites. he is way cool)

the ward had an activity and it was for valentines day so that was cool. my comp was my valentine! haha just kiddin! 

but this week was way good and i loved it!! there are parts at night in this sector where there are crazy people. haha not really dangerous but just crazy. so my comp and i were walking ( i was with my new comp) and we saw like 3 girls walking far away from us but toward us. normally you would avoid people and give them space to walk past you right? so we kinda started walking in another direction and they like started to follow us and walk toward us still. i started to feel really uncomfortable haha and so we just kept walking and one of the girls walked past me and brushed me with her shoulder and said well basically she said something i am not going to say but it was a weird and strange experience that i had in the week. haha

we are still working with the people to get married and it is posible they will get married this month if not it would be the next month so thats pretty cool. and with daniel we had a really good lesson with him yesterday  about the restoration and it was sweet experience and he showed more of a desire to find out if it is true or not. it was pretty sweeet so we are excited to meet with him again this week. 

everything is good and i am pretty happy!!! there really isnt anything too new but i want you guys to know i love you all and i hope you all have a flippen wonderful week!!!!

elder smoot

Wk 36 - i honestly have no idea what to write!

Companion: Elder Gonzalez
Area: Chillan

this has been there for a while!! i just thought it was funny!!
 it was outside of one of the churches

mini transfer with elder sanchez

This week was really fast!!! i honestly have no idea what to write!

well we had transfers and I will meet my new comp tomorrow and he is from california and his name is elder ronco. my first gringo comp and well he is latino but was born in california. He has been out about 20 months. 

that is crazy what is happening to jenna!! oh my gosh when i saw that pic of the worm i gagged a bit... no worries i havent really eaten anything crazy so i think i am good! ojala!(I hope)

elder jensen and my comp are the ones who are leaving our house and i am still with elder sanchez from argentina so thats pretty cool! he is a good guy!! right now i am in a mini transfer with him right now. the other two went to centro to say bye to some missionaries.

Yesterday we were teaching one investigator Daniel. He is a boyfriend of a member of the church and thats how we got to know him. from what we see he is doing all of this for his girlfriend so we thought how can we help him see how jesus christ can help in his life and how he can be happier through him. Daniel is a happy guy and doesnt have any problems and i am a good friend of his because i sit by him at church but he just doesnt see how happy he could be. So what we did yesterday is we taught him how jesus can help us have more hope in our lives and when we act on our faith that brings us more joy! he was able to understand more the importance of jesus and some of the blessing we can get from jesus christ. it was a good experience for me to see someone change their thoughts about our savior jesus christ. 

We are playing soccer every friday at our church and it is sweet!! i am exactually liking soccer a little bit more! haha its so weird because i never thought i would say that. I weighed myself and i saw that i am loosing a little bit a weight. i wasnt too happy about that but i know when you walk all day and it is hot it happens! haha

It is crazy how fast time goes here! the days even seem real short and it is crazy how it is!! I couldnt be happier to be here honestly. I love this gospel and i know this gospel blesses familys. It has blessed my family and my life a ton!! i hope you all have a wonderful week!!! 

love you all!!

elder smoot

Elderes y Hermanas,

Les envío la fotos de la zona. No tengo todos los correos,

 por favor ayúdenme a enviarlo a los que faltan :D

Wk 35 - i never thought i could be more happy in my life!

Companion: Elder Gonzalez
Area: Chillan

elder miranda and i chillin on the couch

another hancock that is from arizona and the house in volcanes!!
it is such a nice house for missionaries

so this week was pretty cool we had a carne asada at some elders house today and it was cool. in that same house i was there for a day on a mini transfer and it was pretty cool!! we had a bbq for some elders that are finishing their missions this week. 

yes this is the final week of transfers. i believe i will be getting a new comp because my comp has 4 transfers here in this sector. that would be 6 months in one place!! holy cow that would be a lot of time to be in one place!! 

i was happy to hear that jenna and matt are back together once again!! i believe they will be spending a lot of time together! haha!

this week i got a letter that a girl that graduated with me will be coming to my mission! so that is pretty cool!! it is so awesome how many people are willing to serve a mission! 19 missionaries in our ward holy cow! that is a ton of missionaries!!

i have noticed as i go on in my misison that my english is getting kind of bad. haha i really only speak spanish and at times with the elders from the states i speak english! it is pretty cool to think about how lost i was with spanish in the beginning now it is something natural. that right there is a miracle to me and i couldnt be more grateful. still my spanish isnt perfect but i just remember how frustrated i was with it in the beginning. 

it sounds like everythhing is going good with the family so thats good. that will always bring me joy no matter what is happening in my life.

i thought that i would send some pics to you guys this week and the pics with the little bird happened 2 weeks ago we found a baby bird and we put it back in its nest. i was the only one tall enough to reach it! haha 

i never thought i could be more happy in my life! at times i have no idea why i am happy. i look at some situations in the mission and before i would be like oh man this is awful and now i have learned to always no matter what to take out the good of everything and to continue to endure! 

one thing that is pretty cool is that the comp i have now his friend that is a girl is on a misison in chile orsono where aly is and i guess aly is training my comps friend! so thats something pretty cool! there are so many connections its crazy!! 

I will be sending some pics in a bit!!

love you guys and have a flippen wonderful week!

elder smoot

Wk 34 - 2 miracles that happened this past week!

Companion: Elder Gonzalez

Area: Chillan

oh yeah and we had zone conference this week.
some friends on this mission. elder noe and elder hancock

Got a package! 

we did service this week too and cleaned this thing out!! it was pretty cool

i will send more pics next week because this computer is really slow. have a good week!! 

oh and i got a package from laurens wilsons family
and from grandma and grandmpa smoot! thanks guys!!!:)

view of the street where we live and the side of our house

we ate lunch here after we played soccer

Well this week was pretty good! we had a few miracles that are pretty cool that i am going to tell you about.

first off we found a family. the parents are Carol and Francisco and they have 3 kids. we are going to have a wedding on the 18th of February and a baptism the 21st! cool huh? i hope everything works out with that. they are a great family and i have never met a famliy so funny before!!

haha the next story is about a family that are members. well first off this family is converts as are most of the members here in chile and they do have strong testimonies!! well the mom of this family hadn't gone to church for 2 weeks which was weird and so her son that is a return missionary told us to visit his mom to help her out a little. We went to the house and we started the lesson and we were talking about all the blessings you have from the church and how if you arent building your testimony you are weakening it. well first off there are some problems within the ward which is sad and i think thats why she wasnt going to church but she told us something very cool. the night before, she had a dream that we were here in her house talking to her and telling her how if a man goes away from the church we lose a soul but if a mom goes away from the church we loose generations. and she started to cry telling us this experiences and it was pretty cool to see her attitude change right in front of us and yes she did come to church this past week. 

I feel like i have been able to learn a lot about myself the little time i got in the mission. i have been able to see a lot of miracles and spirital experiences that i wouldnt be able to have if i didnt serve a mission. i am grateful for this gospel. 

we did some cools stuff today! we played soccer this morning on a turf field and this past week we cleaned our whole house inside and out and i got some pics from that! 

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

Elder Smoot

Wk 33 - Happy birthday mom and talia!!:)

Companion: Elder Gonzalez
Area: Chillan

sorry my camera died right after we took the pic of the bus
so we couldnt take another one

just so you know my side of the table is clean! haha 

yes 4 of us sleep in the same room. our house is small

So i sent a letter to you guys today to talia and to you mom and to dad! i know it will get there late but itll get there!! :) 

today we just studied in the morning i wrote the letters and we got ready and left as soon as we could! we have been on the summer schedule right now where we go to bed at 11 30 and wake up at 7 30. the schedule depends on the time of the year in chile. 

well last p day we play soccer and ate churi pan! it is sausage with bread thing and it is soo good i ate like 7 it was kinda gross. haha we teach like 3 lessons everyday and we have this vision where we have to have a lesson to a less active or a recent convert with a member present in the lesson of course and a lesson to a member and a lesson to an investigator with a member in the lesson as well. we try and do that every day. It is hard at times to do it every day but we get close to do it everyday!

RIght now we have Delmira who didnt come to church this past week which was a bummer but she has a baptism date for the 7th of feb. so hopefully that will work out all right! i dont know why but all the baptisms we have had in this sector is all old people! haha 

our whole mission isnt really too focused on finding people to teach as much as to help people to return to the church. it is so crazy how many people are inactive here. i have talked about before how we are contacting in the street talking to people and it isnt weird to contact someone that is a member and we have no idea because they are less active. at times it is sad because they dont want anything more with the church. 

The hard times dont effect me as much as before. i have seen why it is a commandment to share the gospel because not only will we find people to teach but as well we will find ourselves and what we acctually want in this life. i have strengthened my testimony so much in my mission and i know it isnt over. i have seen how people have changed their attitudes about things because they arent feeding themselves spiritually. 

I couldnt be more happy to be here and for all the hard times i have. i will be sending pics of my house but dont mind my comps stuff he isnt very organized! haha love you guys!!

Elder Smoot

Wk 32 - i am officially a chileano

Companion: Elder Gonzalez
Area: Chillan

i am officially a chileano

i had a mini transfer with elder garrido from columbia

we had an activity today!

wow it really is crazy how fast time goes!! 

one new thing in our mission that happened with all the missions of the south part of south america is they took out the numbers and we dont have to say numbers of how many other lessons we had and new investigators and a bunch more numbers we had to keep track of. they changed it so we only have to say how many people came to church and how many baptisms we had. they made it a lot easier and what they are trying to do is focus not so much on the numbers and actually working for the love of the lord. i did feel like at times like oh crap! we dont have a member for this lesson it isnt going to count for our numbers. now obviously we are going to continue working with members and visiting the people that didnt come to church but we are doing this to build each ward and have more of a focus on the salvation of people. 

the name has changed from missionary work to the work of salvation. it is a great change and this week we had so many people in the church they didnt have enought water for the sacrament they had to bless it twice! it was pretty cool but our ward there was 130 people that came to church which is a pretty good number here in chile! 

we have a 2 investigators that we are working with. we have delmira and jossette. delmire has a baptism date for the 31st of this month and jossette didnt come to church with her mom who is a less active. jossettes mom is a less active and now has been going to the church for a month now and it is awesome.

it is awesome to see the difference in the number of people at church. makes you feel like you are actually doing something!! haha! i have learned that the hard times dont really matter anymore and you just got to keep being strong and enjoy every moment! 

i have been told i am too happy sometimes so i guess thats not bad! haha!

i love you guys and i hope you guys have a good week i will be sending some pics in a bit!!!

have a wonderful week you guys!!

elder smoot

Wk 31 - Happy New YEar!!

Companion: Elder Gonzalez
Area: Chillan

Elder Hancock's parents came to pick him up at the end of his mission

I couldnt be more grateful for this oppurtunity i have to serve a mission. i have recently been more grateful to serve a mission. it is a great oppurtunity to test how much you love God. in the end the dedication you have to serve represents how much you love him. i am here because it is a commandment from God. I dont want anything more than to make God happy. It has been a pretty good week and i have seen blessings in my life. 

The past new years eve we spent it with the Reyes family. they are an awesome family and it was a good time. we had a carne asado ( it like a bbq thing). it was a good to time to enjoy a little bit. 

I have recently have been trying to focus a little better and give more in the work. I just feel like you can always do more!!

We are working on a investigator named Jossette. she is 12 years old and her mom is coming back to the church- she is a less active. it is awesome to see the people change for the better! i couldnt be more grateful for the gospel. she has come to the church once and now we need to help her get a testimony for her own!

At this moment in my mission i know i only got a little time in the mission but i feel like i am getting the hang of the mission. i wouldnt want to be doing anything else than inviting people to come to christ.

I am grateful for the support you guys give me! i hope you guys have an awesome week.

Elder Smoot