Week # 43 (May 25, 2015) Aquí en San Pablo!

Hermana Meacham and I! She's great!!

The little piglets that live across the street!

There is a group of dogs that follow us all the time. But one that follows us all day long. He has a sprained leg and is named johnny. Black and white. It´s kind of hilarious. 

Saying goodbye to Ana Maria and her daughter clara (the ones with a baptismal date)

Hello everyone!

This week was absolutely wonderful and full of miracles, really cold weather and the lovely little farm town of San Pablo. :) It was slightly hard to say goodbye to Pto Varas. The members there really  have so much love for the missionaries and we were finally starting to see some of the fruits of our labors. But, alas, the lord wanted me here in the lovely san Pablo with the even more lovely Hermana Meacham.(literally so gorgous talented awesome and a super missionary!) And I really am so happy. 

We both really want to be obedient and more than that, just lose ourselves in the work and enjoy the time that we have here. (which every day becomes shorter and shorter....I hit 10 MONTHs this week) So the first day with hit the streets and we have been seeing miracles ever sense. That isn´t to say that there aren´t hard moments. (Like when we don´t make fire in the morning and I wear ALL my winter gear to study...) or when we are tired, but when you lose yourself and don´t think about things you are missing or things you want, and just ENJOY what we have and what we are doing, the time flies and the days are so fun. And I really have felt that way this week and the lord has blessed us a ton. 

ONE example of this was Saturday. That morning we left the house to go find and visit contacts. I don´t usually like mornings very much, but again, trying to enjoy it all. So we started to talk to some people.We started a conversation with a woman named Juana who was cleaning her rug outside. She said that her son was mormon and that her other son Felipe likes to go to church in Santiago where they live most of the time. Felipe then came out and when we invited him to go to church with us, he was like, Sure! (what 12 year old boy is that enthusiastic about church?) But then they let us in and we taught them about the atonement and the importance of acting on our faith. We even talked about baptism and I think we could have invited her right there, but she lives in Santiago.....so it´s slightly complicated. She comes her every month at least because she likes it her a lot more. But we invited them to come to church with us and she said, ¨Why don´t you girls come and have breakfast with me and then we´ll all go together? So the next morning we had breakfast with them and all went to church. I really couldn´t believe it. And even though we can´t really teach  her. We were able to find her and hopefully, the weekends that she is here, we can bring her to church and help her find the missionaries where she  lives in Santiago. But it was so amazing. We have been seeing so many other miracles her and I´m so excited to keep working and finding and enjoying my time here with Hna Meacham!

I wish you all the very best and invite you to keep going even in the hard times. This time is for enjoying! 

LOVE,

Herman Smoot

Things about San Pablo:

We live just us two in a fairly sizable house of wood....but it´s REALLY COLD. So i think i´m going to try to find a sleeping bag.

Cows and pigs live across the street.

Everyone knows each other here and everyone is family.

20-30 people assist on sunday in our tiny little chapel. But it has a font! So we are all good. :)

There isn´t anybody with a baptsimal date, but we are working towards that!

We have a mamita who cooks us lunch every day and isn´t a member.

Hna Meacham likes singing and can hold a note while i do harmony. (it´s like a really special thing when you have a comp that can do that.....yes. it´s important...) 

I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK

Week # 42 ( May 18, 2015) SO long, farewell; Transfers!

New Area: San Pablo

New Companion: Hermana Meacham

(note from mom) While Ally was in the MTC in Mexico I was getting her some hair product for her and met sister Meacham and her mom! We talked for a while when i deixcovered she was going to the SAME mission in Chile. They are only one transfer different and we both said how cool it would be if they were ever comps-AND now they are! amazing. 

Well, that was the shortest six weeks of my life.

This transfer has come and gone and I feel like a barely know everyone here and I´m already leaving. I´ve been assinged to san pablo, a little tiny farm town in La Union. Which is just north of Osorno. And I will be with Hermana Meacham! (The girl that mom met in the mall. She´s from lehi i think) How cool is that? Although I am really sad to leave this ward, and the lovely Pto. Varas, change is good and I´m excited for alll that my new area brings.  

This week was lovely as always. I got sick on tuesday with a really bad a fever and I was in bed all day. But I healed quickly and we were out again the next day. Now that I only half of this experience I´ve had sort of a reality check and I´m really realizing all of the things that I still need to learn and do. I  really want to be a missionary that just gives her all, all the time. And I´m not really sure I´m there yet. It´s a little easier to say what you want to be, but to actually do it is a process that I´m trying to figure out. But meanwhile, we just keep working. :) 

This week we were knocking doors at night in the rain, and we saw a cow skull nail to a post on someone´s porch. And i said, why not? So we knocked, and who appeared? Juan Luis. He is a metal guitar player, pagan, black belt in taikwando (spelling?) and has a newborn baby. He believes in aliens and likes learning. So we were able to explain to him who really is Jesus Christ and his restoration. I´m not sure if he will really progress, or if we will ever be able to find him again, but It´s really amazing to meet so many of gods children and be able to testify to them of thier purpose here. And that they have a savior. 

Ana maria, who has the baptism date is still listening and still interested, though her progress is slow.This week we went to her house without an appt becuase it had fallen through when i was sick. And she was tired and had so much to do, but let us in anyway. With much persistence, she finally accepted our help to do a few chores. And after we were able to read the book of mormon with her. She really liked it and  thought it was very clear and inspiring. We are hoping and praying that she can find the time to read and pray. I´m going to miss her. She is hilarious. :) 

I wish all of you the very best this week. God is here and lives and so does his son. This plan is perfect. Keep going and enduring to the end. LOVE YOU ALL!!

Love,

Hermana Smoot

ps send me letters. ;)

IT RAINED so much this week. We didn´t bring umbrellas one day and we were soaking. This was taken right before going inside at night. We were just laughing it was so ridiculous.

We got permission to watch Brother Bear in spanish with the other hermanas today. Best day ever!

 Las hermanas

Todos

Todos goofy

Week # 41 (May 11, 2015) HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Happy mother´s day mom! It was so great to see you via Skype all yesterday for a RIDICULOUSLY SHORT time. But, that´s how it is. We´ll talk lots in februaryish.

I don´t have a ton of time, but i just want to say that we have seen so many miracles this week. This exchange and new area has been slightly difficult finding people that really are going to progress and who are willing to act on thier faith and be baptized. We have been praying and fasting a ton and the people who are  willing to talk to us, aren´t going to change, or progress. BUT this week that changed!

After a fairly difficult day, with TONS of rejection, on friday literally EVERY door opened and let us in. The first one was someone that we can never find and we had a lovely lesson with her. The second was a family who we´ve been trying to find all MONTH and the finally let us in and gave a lesson. And the third was an new investigator who actually is a less active. BUT THREE lessons in a row and THEN a lesson with Anamaria. Which was icing on the cake. 

We found Anamaria and her family a few weeks ago and she has been progressing slowly, but surely and every time we go, she´s  a little more in tune with the spirit and a little more sure of what our purpose is. We had a lesson on the gospel of jesus christ with her and her daughter and we talked a lot about baptism. And the member that was their was able to bear her testimony of the holy ghost and how it helped her. And the spirit was really strong. We ended our lesson inviting her to be baptized and she ACCEPTED a date. She and her daughter. Now we are working on her progress. Please throw in a prayer for her as she makes this journey. That night I got home tired and full of the spirit of gratitude. God really really loves us and is watching out for us. We´ve been through some rought times this last month, but the blessing really do come after the tribulation. Even if we can´t see it right now, he is just waiting to bless us, but we have to learn in the process. 

I love you all so much. SO much. I´m so glad you are all healthy and well. Please keep enduring to the end and putting god first. He will provide. :)

Have a beautiful week! Les amo muchísimo.

Hermana Smoot

(From MOM) We were able to skype at 4:00 pm (7pm in Chile) on Sunday afternoon together. It was so fun to hear her speak a some Spanish, see her expressions and fun antics. She seems so happy! Ashley's BF Derek was there too but we didn't grab a photo- He took this one for us.

(We missed you Ally- We visited both parents earlier in the day so we could Skype)

Mom! (This is just for the record, as Steve would say)

I just wanted to write you something really quick and tell you that I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!! 

I´m sorry that we didn´t talk just the two of us last night. ON CHRISTMAS for sure. :) I´ve always loved our talks so much. You are the best listener and always give great advice and help me sort our my situations. You understand me so well and get when it´s just time to go get fro yo or eat chocolate. :) 

Thank for always teaching me how to do things and how to take care of myself, but always being there when I messed up or fell down. I really, REALLY am grateful for that now in the mission. 

Also, apart from all of the amazing qualities you have as a mom,  you are just an amazing person and woman. You have always been an amazing example of charity and christlike love. Everyone just loves you, whether it´s our family or my friends or the ward members you are a source of love and support for everyone. And you never put yourself first. Which, i think, is one of the hardest christlike attributes- That of turning out and serving when everyone else would turn inward.

You are an incredible person mom and I love you so much. And i´m so utterly excited for the day when we can go out together and talk for hours and shop and just be together. Thank you for all the packages and pictures and for always worrying about me. I really feel your love so much. And i brag about you all the time here. :)

I hope you had an incredible day yesterday! Love you so much!

With all my heart,

Your daughter Ally

Tell my grandmas that i love them and think about them all the time. :)

Week #40 (May 4, 2015) HUMP DAY! 9 MONTHS ALONG!

HUMP DAY!!! Half way mark

For our 9 month mark we took prego pictures and bought sushi to celebrate. SO good. :) We are both in the same group and completed 9mos together. so it was extra special. 

Hello one and all!

WE have officially completed HALF of the mission here in Chile and can I just say, TIME GOES BY SO FAST. The last month has flown by and the more that we keep going the faster it goes. But I am so grateful for the time that I have had, all that I have learned and all that I will learn in the next 9 months. 

This week went by quickly as well. We are working and working, trying to be diligent and have fun at the same time. I love my companion, and we laugh a lot in the street and try to avoid all the sketchy humans who are stunned that two blonde people are walking down the road....

Friday was probably one of the most tiring-physically and spiritually- that I have had in the mission. It was a holiday and nobody was working, so we were hoping to find people in their houses, but literally EVERYONE slammed the door in our face, ALL of our appointments fell and by the time 9pm hit and we still had 30 minutes to contact people, I felt like I was going to die. I was so tired and cold and my body hurt and I was so done. But we said a prayer asking heavenly father to lead us to prepared people and help us to have the energy. And even though we didn´t find a golden investigator, we made it. And the next two days were incredible in comparison. The whole experience was an intense manifestation of the reality of 2 nephi 2 and how there really must be an opposite to everything. I know that we have hard days for a reason. Heavenly father really wants us to trust in him and he will help us to recognize the good and grow from every experience.

Their are still so many less actives here, and some people have told us not to visit them anymore, but we have been able to miraculously find a few people that really might be able to progress, so if you could throw in a prayer for them and for all the people here and that we can find those that are prepared, that would be incredible. :)

I really love you all so much. I know that this church is true, and even though it´s not always easy, it is so worth it and I am so grateful to have this experience. I´m excited to talk to you all on SUNDAY!!!!! :) wooohoo!

Have the BEST week. 

ALL MY LOVE,

Hermana Smoot

Hello World!

This week was super fast....and slow...but really time is passing so fast and I can´t believe it´s almost MAY. What. Happy birthdy Kenna! (they don´t celebrate cinco de mayo here. Nor in mexico found out. But I will be eating mexican to celebrate. don´t worry.) haha

Winter is officially coming here in the lovely country of Chile. So while you are all enjoying some extra rays of sun, I will be enjoy more rain. There isn´t really that crisp breaze and changing leave colors nor snow here. So its just getting a lot colder and raining a lot more. Yaaaaaaay. But it´s fine. We survive. I have rain boots and an unmbrella. Lots more door knocking yesterday and apart from entertaining ourselves with spanglish 20' questions in the rain, we´ve been finding various people and hoping and praying that they will progress. :)

We visited a VERY less active family this week and saw some miracles. They haven´t been to churh in a long time, but always recieve the missionaries. So we were on the brink of stopping visiting them becuase they wouldn´t progress. But his brother from the other ward in pto varas, who is active with his family, wanted to visit him with us. So we had a lesson with his brother and sister in law and their family. And we had a pretty intense lesson (charla franca..) talking about what is really stopping them from going to church and a testimony of his brother. We tried to just tell them how much we love them and how much the sacrement is going to help them in their lives to be parents and help their children grow and learn with the spirit. They told us they would go, but I still doubted a little, as they had sid the same things earlier. We told them we were going to pick them up on the way to church, just to make sure. On sunday morning, we were walking to church and had forgotten to stop by their house. So we ran back trying to find thier street. Both of us are pretty new to the area, and they just barely moved. So we were running around trying to find it, already late and ended up not being able to find there house. So we just went to church, without and investigater or less active and LATE on top of it all. But when we entered the chapel, I sat down a little stressed and tired. And i looked over and the entire family was sitting there. They came!!!!!! I was serously in shock. And another person who I was sure wouldn´t come also came. And stayed all 3 hours. I was humbled to realize that god really works in mysterious ways. Even though there wasn´t a single investigator in the chapel, Heavenly father was still working to touch the hearts of the people here and bring to pass the work of salvation here in Pto. Varas. 

God is present. He is here and loves us and works through us in mysterious ways.  LOOK for them. Miracles are there. I love you all so much and wish you the best this week!!!

Love,

Hermana Smoot!