Week #72 (Dec. 14, 2015) Animo ( mood, spirits, encouragement, purpose, intention)

WOW.

This week was SO cool. Mainly because Elder Teixeira from the Seventy came to Pto Montt to talk to the missionaries. IT. WAS. the best. ever. We left that meeting literally wanting to baptize EVERYONE. I feel so humbled to be able to be a sister leader because there was a little meeting with the zone leaders and the STLs where he and his wife gave us special instruction. I don´t know why i was special enough to be there but it was incredible. I feel such a desire to keep repenting and to keep going. Every day i realize more and more the importance of what we do as missionaries. We are just praying to keep up the enthusiasm to do the work. Which is actually a very difficult task being a human being. We get tired and discouraged. A lot. But Heavenly Father recognizes that our hearts really do want to do the best we can.

I was talking to my companion, hermann Wyatt who is like the Gandalf of my mission in all of her wisdom. Seriously I love her. She finishes her mission this week and it has been such a blessing being with her. She gives me so much advice and more than anything just teaches by example. We were talking about christmas the other day. I have really been trying to think about something special i can do for christmas. Some sort of service project or something. And she told me that really it will be a special christmas. Even if we spend the whole day knocking doors or if President says we have to stay inside or if we do a big service project. It will be special becuase we are giving it to the lord. I really liked that. And pray to remember it during christmas and after. 

As my companion leaves, we got news that I will be with a BRAZILIAN. That means living with 3 latinas. Latin American missionaries. Chau english. haha. It´s fine!  I´m really excited though and know that all will be well. 

I really love you all SO much. You are all the best and most supported family ever. I pray for you always and wish you the BEST week ever.  :)

Love you,

Hermana Smoot

Week # 71 (Dec. 7, 2015) Christmas and attitude.

Hello loved ones.

It´s so funny how much you can change in a week. Heavenly father just makes us grow so much in all the little things that we do. I´m so excited about christmas! We got a little tree and our new christmas pass along cards that we are sharing with EVERYONE we see. Except for those that dont celebrate christmas. 

LOOK UP THE VIDEO IF YOU HAVEN¨T ALREADY. (A savior is born) (Funny side story, we kept contacting people in the street and handing out the cards and all of the sudden we talked to this lady who said, "I´m jehovas witness and i don´t celebrate christmas. Then she chewed us out for not following the bible. We walked away chuckling a bit and then about 10 minutes later we asked another guy, "Hey can we give you a card about christmas?" and he said "I´m jewish, i don´t celabrate christmas. Bye." Ok fine christmas haters. We got a good laugh out of it though. :) 

I think the biggest lesson I learned this week came from an inspired companion that told me an experience that changed my whole outlook on my mission. I got really tired this transfer. But REALLY tired. Tired in a lot of different ways, not just physically. I just felt like I´d been working so hard for so long and my battery was running really low. I went a few weeks like that, trying really hard but just dragging. And finally one day while we were planning I just couldn´t feel the spirit and couldn´t make decisions and just felt like a zombie. But my companion (who finishes her own mission in 2 weeks) told me a story that really helped me about 2 different missionaries. The were both great missionaries. And worked hard. One of them however, her last transfer was really tired. And let that overtake her. Every day she told her companion just how tired she was. How she was so utterly exhausted. How much she had given. How much her body hurt. And that she just couldn´t any more. And she ended her mission, but ended up wishing those last 6 weeks away. The other missionary was tired too. Really tired. and ended as a trainer. But she did everything in her power to focus on other people. To never dwell on her exhaustion or her problems. But to always look on other people. And she ended well and satisfied with the work she did. I thought about that good and hard after she told me. And i realized that, like we always say, happiness is a choice. Sometimes that choice is a lot harder than we´d like, but it´s always possible. I´ve tried really hard this week to implement that into my life this week. To really try to think of others. And more importantly to think about the atonement. Christ was much more tired that I will ever be during his mortal ministry. I can choose to be happy about my circumstances and choose to focus myself in others. It´s been incredible to do it this week. And i really haven´t been perfect. And i´ve still had moments of exhaustion. And hard and frustrating things have still happened. But i feel energized in a really cool way. I think i´m finally beginning to understand that attitude really does determine altitude.

Sorry for all my rants. Andres the guy we found in the phone is doing well. He hasn´t accepted a baptismal date yet becuase he has SO many doubts. He´s a very proof based person. But we are praying and fasting that he will find an answer to be able to make that covenant with god and recieve a remission of his sins. Ah. What a blessing that is. 

I really love you all. If you haven´t had the chance to watch the Christmas devo, it was amazing. Remember christ this year and everything that he did for you. My comp and her family have a cool tradition where they write down something they are going to sacrifice or do better for christ. The write it down and put it under the tree and it´s the first gift they open. I INVITE you guys to do it. :) 

Sorry these thoughts are all over the place. Know that i really do love all of you and I´m deeply grateful for the love and kindness and caring that you have given me. I wish you the very best week!

LOVE,

Hermana Smoot

PS. I want to ask all of you if you could try not to mention the time i have left in the mission or what might happen after. I know being trunky is a choice but hearing about it doesn´t help very much. Help a poor missionary wouldnt ya? haha thank you!

Pics!

Our 3 dollar christmas tree and a ginger candle. YUM. #slybyupride

Remember Hna Harvey?! (the trio last year) Old compy. We had a little get together with 6 other sisters today. Pizza! (that one´s only christmasy for our family haha)

Week # 70 (Nov. 30, 2015) For all of you who like math!

Hello one and all!
First, thank you all for writing Hermana Terceros! She LOVED it and will write next week. 

It´s hard to describe in a few paragraphs everything that happens in a week....so i´m just going to write some things that happened...

1. I got sick again....the weather here is ridiculous. BUT we still saw a bunch of amazing miracles even if we weren´t outside every single day

2. We found 2 new families!! Which is a huge miracle becuase, well, the investigator pool had become a small puddle and i was going to die if one more contact didn´t want to know any more. One was just a lady we found in the street who was in a hurry and gave us her address. We called her and set an appointment and when we went she was super interested and her kids understood the apostasy. It was weird and super awesome. Her name is Nadia. We also started working with another family who is searching for the truth and she thinks that what we do is incredible. She invited us over and told us to pray that her husband can be home the next time becuase he´s always really busy. It´s just beautiful to be able to see some of the seeds started to grow up. 

3. We found Marianela! I was becoming ver very worried. She went north for some medical problems, and was gone for about a week and a half, and came back with a load of questions and doubts. And is not sure she wants to be baptized right now. But she is willing to keep reading and praying. It´s something she really really wants, but is just so unsure now. I´m praying so hard that she can get her answer.

4. Also, on friday we had an activity (TOTAL flop) and started frantically calling everyone, including old investigators whose contact was in the phone. And we ended up setting up a whole bunch of appointments. One of then was Andres who told us to come to his house the next day. We went and he has obviously talked to a lot of missionaries and always had a lot of questions and doesn´t really understand the need of baptism. But it´s been about 9 months since they went to his hous. We had a little example of dispensations that looks like little hills and he said it looked like waves and started talking math terms. So I had a thought (SPIRIT) to compare baptism to math. Or basically like god has set terms or a formula that we all need to follow to go back to live with him. And sometimes the formula is super difficult and we don´t want to do the arithmatic or figure it out. But the best solutions come from it. And baptism is the only formula to get the solution. I explained it better (SPIRIT) but it was cool becuase he finally got it and came to church yesterday. We are going to give him a baptismal date this week (hopefully!)

I know that God loves us SO SO much. He gives us the good the bad the ugly and the incredible just to show how much he loves us. And sometimes life is like math. And it´s really hard, but when one problem is finally solved and miracles come, it´s oh so sweet. I love you all so much!! Have a beautiful week!

Love,

Hermana Smoot

I made a beautiful pie for thanksgiving. We eat a ton of meat and potatos every day so that part wasn´t necessary....

I made a beautiful pie for thanksgiving. We eat a ton of meat and potatos every day so that part wasn´t necessary....

We decorated the bul. board with a less active and another sister to help him get involved! Adorable.

Knocking.....and dogs...... they were SO big. AND fleas....

look how patriotically chilean this is.