Wk 21 - . i have found so much happiness this week

Companion: Elder Ramos
Area: Andalein

saw my old companion today! (Elder Incil)

my comp and i are having a hard time finding right now and everyday is kind of long but i feel like this is the time where i have grown the most spiritually. i have realized that i am not always going to have success but i still have to find happiness. i have learned a little bit better how i can depend on the Lord Jesus Christ and how i can find happiness. i have found so much happiness this week. yes we have walked a ton this past week but i have never been happier talking to every person we see and testifying to of the truthfulness of the gospel. i don't know if you knew me before but i would have never done this before my mission. i feel like i am proud to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and i am not ashamed to tell every person of the happiness that they can have.

this week i have felt the adversary working on me more than i have ever felt before but i have felt more peace and happiness through pray and it is something that is hard to explain. many times this week i have felt the efforts of satan but i chose not to listen and rely on the gospel and the scriptures for my happiness. family i want all you guys to know i love you all so much. there is not anything in this whole world that is more important than to return to our father in heaven. thinking about this a lot lately and about baseball. i have made the decision to focus on family and the gospel after my mission. baseball has been really fun and all but i have realized that there is more. 

2 weeks ago we watched this video that Jefferey R. Holland spoke at the mtc of provo. he talked about Preach my Gospel and how the program that we have is awesome. he talked about how before we had a problem with our program how all the lessons were memorized and nothing was really to find the needs of the people. he also said that Gordon B. Hinckley knew there was a problem because they were always focusing on the investigator and not the missionary. he talked about how the missionary needs to be converted and to have a testimony before they can convert someone else. he said that there were missionaries after their missions would fall away from the church because they weren't converted before and how could you fall away after preaching about it for 2 years. anyway this video was powerful and if you can find the talk on the internet and watch it i would like all you guys to watch this one talk. 

so i am on my fourth paragraph and i hope you are happy mom;) i just want to testify that there is nothing more important than to return with our father in heaven. i love all you guys so much! i hope you all have a good week and the story with jewel is awesome! i love spiritual experiences like that! love you fam!!:)

Elder Smoot

Wk 20 - New companion! /videos!

Companion: Elder Ramos
Area: Andalein

Andalein Zone Conference

ok so like every day this week was way fast! it is still weird to think that i am on my mission! it is weird to think how fast time goes! 

So i am getting a package ready for you guys! is there anything that you would like in it specificly? i got to say my favorite present is the one i am giving to Austin! you guys just have to wait and see! haha

On saturday i had a really cool experience and i was a good example of somebody that had really strong faith. My comp and i visited an old lady in our ward and she had been sick for the past 3 days and she asked us to give her a blessing so she could go to church the next day. i felt like i needed to bless her that she would feel better tomorrow so she could go to church. it was a spiritual experience for me and she said a closing prayer after we shared a scripture and in the prayer she said that she had no doubt that she would feel better tomorrow and that she could go to church! it was a cool experience for me to see someone with strong faith.

one funny story is there was a little fat kid up on a hill and we were walking back from lunch yesterday and the fat kid said to all his friends "LOOK the mormons!!!" they all had toy guns in their hands and they all started pretending to shoot us and it was pretty funny! 

all in all everything is good i love the gospel so much!! i know how important it is to continue to build your testimony everyday!!

Love,

Elder Smoot

New Elders in the house!

questions/answers:

*hows the new comp?!

he is cool i am going to send a video of him talking in portuguese for tanner 

*hows the weather?
it is perfect right now. not too hot and not too cold! 

*do you still get fed every day?

yeah every day except p day because we are in centro most of the day writing and buying food

*how is chile most different from here?

-well every one speaks spanish haha 

-you need to lock up your house and every house has a gate around it 

-well it is very dirty here. people just throw stuff on the ground! it is sad to see how people are here 

-i hate dogs here! there are too many dogs in the street and they always bark as you walk by so pretty much i just get barked at most the day. don't get me wrong i love being here!! 

-some people use horses and not cars. most people just get around by bus. 

-we yell to knock on doors! Ahloo!!! haha because everyone has a gate so we can't knock. at times there is a little door bell by the gate you can push! but there is a ton of different things! 

-some houses i cant stand up straight and i always got to watch for my head! haha

Wk 19 - This week was fast!

Companion: Elder Ramos
Area: Andalein

Good-bye to Elder Incil 

this lady was sealed in the provo temple and is a member in my area
(she lived in chile but only visited to be sealed)

I cant believe how big Dixie looks. i only remember her crawling around and thats about it! i would love if you would send pics of her kids!

It is kinda hard to remember all the stories that happen but don't worry i have them written in my journal so that's good! every day it seems there is something that happens that makes all the walking and all the talking to the people worth it. a couple days ago my companion and i we were just walking a ton that day and we were so tired and the sun is down by this time and we saw this lady and we decided to go and talk to her and we talked to her for 15 minutes or so and we shared about the temples and how she could do work for her family in the temples and we got an appointment with her this next saturday and was very interested! i hope all turns out all right with her!

It is weird here on the mission. i am so happy but always so tired! haha but honestly i dont think i have ever been happier in my life. on the mission over time that you have experiences you realize the importance of decisions, family, and well the church on the earth. I couldnt be more grateful to have all my familiy on the path to return to live with father in heaven! i am so grateful for all you guys! 

i will try and send another video hopefully it will work!! have a wonderful week family!

love you all!!!

Love,

Elder Smoot


some questions/answers:

*tell us about your new companion? 

my companion is Elder Ramos and he is awesome! he is a good guy and i feel like we will get along! he cant really speak english and can understand english but we only talk in spanish it is just easier for both of us. he is from Sau Paulo Brazil! He has been out 11 months

*How's it working out with 6 Elders in your house? 

it is crazy i just work out and get in the shower really fast so i am not last haha

*tell us about the people you are teaching now?

we are trying to find people right now and so only less actives right now

*how big is your ward? how helpful are the members in helping the missionaries? 

about 150 people attend but there is so many less actives and we have a lot members that go to the lessons with us

*do you use that bug spray I sent you? How bad are the fleas? 

yeah i dont really have a problem anymore

Wk 18 - Conference!

Companion: Elder Incil
Area: Andalein

i make pancakes almost everyday in the morning

all are members in front of the church

I learned so much from Conference and it was a way good experience! i don't know why but conference is so much better when you are on your mission! i have to share something for tayton because he popped in my head when actually i don't remember who said it but it talks about studying the scriptures daily and how you can be safe from the effects of satan through daily scripture study. i have a huge testimony about that and how that helped me to be better my senior year of high school. i just want you tayton to have daily scripture study and i promise you that it will bless your life.

All right i will get to your guys favorite part of a funny story! this week we were eating lunch with bishops family and the bishop has a little son and he doesn't like corn at all. his mom fed him corn and someone said hey is that corn and the kid didn't realize he was eating corn till someone said something and so the kid started gagging and just lost it!! haha! i was laughing so hard because elder Hancock cant stand throw up at all and he was plugging his ears and looking away and he almost lost it as well. anyway i thought that was pretty funny and i wanted to share that!

Family i want you guys to know those 4 tools that elder Holland talked about is something you guys can do to strength your testimonies as a family. there is nothing that would bring me more joy than to know that my whole family has strong testimonies in the gospel. I did enjoy the video that you guys did for me. i was able to watch that today and i had no idea the zone leaders were doing that for the missionaries. i enjoyed the part where Austin was speaking spanish it was pretty sick! 

anyway i love you guys so very much and i know how important it is to have a growing testimony everyday. hope you all have a wonderful week. 

con amor,

Elder Smoot

one interesting thing i want to tell you- they opened a new sector and because we have a big house we are going to have 6 elders living in the same house so that will be crazy!

Wk 17 - Baptism!!

Companion: Elder Incil
Area: Andalein

pretty much the sign says hi family!

this is the kid ignacio that i baptized

check out this big plate of meat i was definitely in heaven for a while there

As you saw in the picture i do actually enjoy the food here!

So this past week my comp and i had 2 baptisms which is way exciting because this family had been coming to church for 2 months now and now they were finally baptized! it is cool because they really want to go to the temple as a family as well. gosh when we talk about the temple i like thirst to go to the temple and it sucks because i cant go right now! haha i think one of the first things i am going go do is go to the temple here in about 20 months! haha it is fun to talk to people and see people feel the spirit!! 

I had a really cool experience this past week or i think it was this past week! the weeks kind of blend together but we were teaching this person who was baptized recently and she had not been making good decisions and i have never seen her in the church once since i had been here but we teach her all the time. we talked about her life in this lesson and how nothing in this world is more important than returning to our father in heaven. there was a lot of silence in this lesson where i think the spirit taught her and not us as missionaries. it was cool because we didn't say anything and she started crying because the spirit was so strong. it goes to show as you let the spirit teach and you give an opportunity for the spirit to teach people will feel the spirit. 

another story that is pretty funny. so you guys know that i look like a giant walking down the street with my companion and we were walking down this street and 2 kids were playing soccer and they all stopped and stared at us as we were walking and one of the kids pointed and said LOOK its BIG!! and my comp and i started laughing and it was pretty funny! 

but this week was good and time flies here and I love my family more and more every day!! and it brings me joy that i know my family can be together forever. 

Love,

Elder Smoot

Wk 16 - every week feels like only one day!!

Companion: Elder Incil
Area: Andalein

we got new hats. reppin the usa

this is my favorite place to eat with the soto family!

Hey fam!! it is seriously so crazy how time flies!! i did send a letter back home today that i wrote a couple weeks ago!!

 i see the blessings of the gospel in my family and to other people as they continue to realize the importance of it. i have had lessons where we are talking about how families can be together forever and it makes me tear up almost every time. i have realized how special it is to be able to be with you guys together forever. i want you guys to know that i do love you all. i am very happy to be here serving a mission. 

this past week was the day of independence for chile and so during these holidays hardly anyone is in the streets because they are all cooking food and partying and sleeping. and the people that were in the streets were all drunk. haha so 2 days ago we had another drunk guy stop to talk to us and i would have just kept walking because it isn't like he is going to remember anything and we shook his hand and he pulled my companion in for a hug and i knew i was next and sure enough the drunk guy pulled me in too. i gave him a hug and smelt pretty bad not going to lie. haha 

another thing that is cool the family hernandez leiton well only the mom and the son are going to be baptized this saturday and it is so cool to see how the gospel and helped them out in their lives. one miracle is the dad is a nice guy but he has never sat in one of our lessons and he said it was ok for the son to be baptized and so lucky he said it was fine. so i will send pictures of the baptism next week!!! they are a cool family. i want you guys to know i love you and all is well here.

Love,

Elder Smoot

the family that is going to be baptized

Wk 15 - pictures!

Companion: Elder Incil
Area: Andalein

all the boys in my zone

this week is there independence day on the 18 so there is a lot of flags up right now

we flew kites today and there was a horse and naked statue so it was pretty funny

i am using pics from elder hancock.
the dog is always sitting on this wall and we call it the spider dog

All right this week was pretty cool but man being a missionary is pretty tiring! haha we did a service project with a bunch of missionaries and it was way cool!! we all saw some graves that were over 200 years old!! this cemetery was huge. i saw bones of graves that were cracked open. i saw a dude's femur and a skull. it was pretty sketchy! but yeah the service project was pretty fun!!!

 just so you know that the drunk guys is on a daily basis kind of thing! we had a run in with a drunk guy last night and it was pretty funny because he had no idea what he was doing and man does their breathe stink!! haha he asked if i was from the US and it was kind of an obviously answer! haha we just gave him a card and he kissed the picture of Jesus and it was pretty funny! we just said bye and walked away. he wanted to stay and talk awhile!.

One cool thing that happened this week is there is a less active named Juana and she hadn't been to church in so long. her family isn't members but she hadn't been to church in a long time!! we taught a lesson to her and she attended church this past sunday which was pretty cool! it was cool to see a person who decided that they needed to change and they actually acted on it! 

each week here is long but i do love being here. all the work you put in is all worth it! even when you cant find anybody and all your appointments are falling through it is still nice to be here because i know that i need to learn something about patience or i don't know! one thing that i want to share is from my patriarchal blessing and it is the peace that i have in my life will have to do a lot with the peace that is at home. that right there brings me a ton of comfort because it is very true for me. my family is so important to me and i do love all you guys very much!! i hope all of you have a good week!! 

Love,

Elder Smoot

ps. i swear jenna has a baptism every week!! haha i think those miracle baptisms happened here a while ago and now my job is to keep them going to church! 

this is some Chilean food and it is pretty dang good 

lunch at the bishops house
 and elder hancock was on a mini cambio or splits so he wasn't there.

a horse in the front of our house. this is pretty common as well

the view from presidents house-this is where the temple of Concepcion will be as well by the white building

we had interviews at presidents house this past week. he lives in the tiniest house!(he has the 5th floor and  his house is so nice!)

helping hands is a thing with mormons that i didnt really know about but we took flowers off the graves of people in chile. it is weird that they dont burry people they just stack them up haha 

we did a service project for helping hands.

Questions/Answers:

*what do you eat for breakfast and dinner?

i eat eggs and pancakes and fruit pretty much everyday 

*what do people feed you?

nothing really out of the ordinary but mayonnaise and tomatoes seem to be in them. but mostly chicken and rice. as well lasagna or i don't know how to spell it. but a lot bread too. bread is pretty good here

*a day in your life?! 

wake up and i at least do 50 push ups and 100 sit ups because i don't really want to get too big but today i did 100 each and we eat and shower and get ready and study at 8 30 for an hour and we have companionship study after that and we talk about some things and plan for the lessons for the day and we leave for work a little bit before lunch and lunch is at 1 30 everyday and we do that for an hour and we go to the house after and i study spanish and we go to work at 4 because i need to practice my spanish for 30 minutes more. and we go to work after that and we get back at the house at 9 30 to 10 and we plan for our day and get ready for bed and we can eat a little something and we go to bed by 11.

*how far do you walk a day?

 

pretty far. we walk every where we go and so we are either teaching a lesson or walking for 6 hours

*are you sleeping good? 

oh yeah. i sleep like a baby 

*how are your clothes holding up? are you warm enough? 

yeah i am. it is getting warmer here every day and it is pretty nice