Week #75 ( Jan.4, 2016) Happy New Year! Run Forest Run!

Hello beloved family and other humans

HAPPY NEW YEAR: yay Goals and stuff.

Time is both slowing down and speeding up. But this week was a good one. First the funny: So here in chile (and in the world) people like to drink for new years. And a lot. So after having our 20 minute new years eve party in our house we went to bed and the four woke up bright and early to go running on the lovely lake coast. Only to find SEVERAL people still up, still drunk and still celebrating the new year...it was hilarious. Everyone we passed said "wow....que deportistas" how athletic. Then the best of all were i´m guessing some tourists that yelled "RUN forest RUN" I cracked up and had to explain it to the other hermanas. It was a good time. 

Thanks to the obvious partying, the day was slightly difficult with respct to finding people that were awake and ready to change there lives. It was hot and i was tired and not really excited to contact and continue knocking doors. So we kept plugging along for a few hours. Then we rested. And said a prayer. Just aksing for the desire to want to keep walking....we climbed another hill, a few other people rejected us. And then we decided to stop a young man with long hair and an anime t-shirt and headphones. Becuase what are we going to lose. He politely struck up a conversation and had a lot of questions. His name is Sebastion. But he likes Seba. And he is agnostic and doesn´t believe a lot. But we ended up talking for about and hour in the street and setting up another appointment. We both went away with SO much gratitude in our hearts. For the hue miracle of just letting us talk to someone. Heavenly father really loves us. 

This fast sunday I was contemplating a lot about what to fast for. There are so many things that we need and things that i ask for every day. But i just decided to do a gratitude fast. Just fast to say thank you. For all the miracles that i´ve seen in my whole life and on my mission and every hour of every day. And i realized that they are MANY. And the keep coming. I hope that i can continue to have an attitude of gratitude during this whole month. It helps to focus us in the things that really matter most. 

In other cool news, the FAMILIA SANTANA came to visit me on sunday. Marcelo actually grew up here and he found some old school mates in our ward. It was really cool. AND SO SPECIAL. It made me so so grateful. They had a baby. They both have callings. And they are planning to be sealed in August when the ward goes to the temple. UG. I just feel unworthy to have been able to see so much of their progress in the gospel. They are amazing. 

I love this gospel so much. Some days are long and some days are hard, but as we just remember him, every day can be full of joy and miracles. :)

I LOVE YOU ALL. And wish you the happiest new year!

LOVE,

Hermana Smoot

week # 74 ( Dec. 28, 2015) Miracles

There were so many lovely miracles that happened this week and I just want to name a few:

1. We had an awesome christmas open house at our church this week and we were madly handing out invitacions to everyone and their dog. (kidding, there isn´t enough paper in the world for all the dogs....) But, even though there weren´t a ton of members there, we pulled it all together with our awesome mission leader and a TON of investigators came. Marcela, who we are teaching and wants to get baptized (and is waiting on a divorce case to get married) and her daughters. and THREE people who just came to see who the mormons were. :) This really funny lady was really glad at the end that her doubts had been cleared up. Apparently her preacher told her we didn´t believe in christ. It´s funny that that still happens... :) So success! Hopefully there will be more great activities to come. 

2. My christmas we really cool. We woke up and did weekly planning. Then we decided to do some service and go to an old folks home. A lot of them haven´t had visits from there family in a while so it was really neat to be able to lift their spirits a little and be their foreign family for christmas. It was really beautiful. The streets were pretty dead, but we decided to go to the downtown area and ended up finding (miracles) two people that had entered the church before and were willing to learn more. Cool. Then we talked to th family (LOVE you guys so much) At this point I was pretty exhausted from all the emotions and walking. But we still had ten minutes left of the day. So even though we didn´t want to and my head was throbbing, we went out to try and do something before the day ended. There was one teenage boy walking with his headphones in and as we offered him a passalong card, he said that he was athiest and wasn´t interested. But he talked to us anyway and we ended up setting up another appointment with him. It was the coolest tender mercy ever. We ended that day well, totally thrashed, but satisfied that we at least tried to give the day to Him. 

3. Sunday was also AWESOME. I realized that I wasn´t really enjoying the sabbath day for a long time. Because of all the stress with the investigators and the members and everything. So i really tried to enjoy it and i felt like i saw so many miracle. A big one was GUILLERMO y ROCIO cardenas came to see me (and give me something to send...) They are from the family that got baptized and i thought he was totally lost and inactive. The one with the drinking problem. I´m not sure if he is totally active. But he stayed there and took the sacrament and there is still hope. When i saw them i totally started crying. It´s been almost a year. GOZO. I really enjoyed the sacrament. Got a lot out of relief society. My favorite 90 year old grandpa wanted me to sit by him and gave me a little candy. So cute. It was just a good day. It´s incredible how we just have to choose to be happy and it´s like seeing a whole new world. Sometimes that choice is really hard. And sometimes i don´t even want to make it. Or i have to pray to want to pray for help. But I´m learning every day, little by little, how to see the good in the world and keep progressing.

One thing i do know is that my savior lives and that heavenly father loves us SO much. And wants the best for us. He really does want us to be happy. I love the book of mormon and know it´s true.  I´m so grateful for all of you and all you do for Him. Choose to have a beautiful week. :)

Love,

Hermana Smoot

Marcelas family. the mom has come to church twice now.

All four of us ate a christmas eve dinner with this family. They are great and have a daughter in argentina. We at so much....

Hermana Mota and I! She is beautiful.

Me and this crazy old lady. We went to an old folks home to sing with the primary as a service activity. This old lady kept yelling at everyone. It was hilarious. :)

Week#73 (Dec. 21, 2015) (learning Portuguese and strikes

Companion: Hna Mota

City: Pta Varas

Oi como vao voces?

Yes, I´m learning portuguese. I´m going to come home TRILINGUAL. WHAT. I´m so cool. Ok, so I only know how to say like 4 things. But our house is now a chilean and two brazilans and the weird blonde girls over here. :) But my companion is awesome. Her name is Hna Mota and she is 24, a convert, the only member in her family (the gospel hasn´t even gotten to where her family lives in brazil. She met the missionaries when she was studying) WHAT. She is so awesome. She is a super hard worker and loves life, fried food and missionary work. I just feel really blessed. This week was actually really funny becuase we had a slight complication with all the missionaries going home. Chile is really funny and they like to go on strike for everything. Literally. And so the airports decided to go on strike and none of the missionaries from the US could go home....It was quite shocking actually but we learned a lot about not counting the losses and just having an attitude of gratitude. So we were in a power team super trio for a couple days. Hna Wyatt left on saturday though so we´ve just been the power team duo this weekend. :)

I really have been learning so much this week. It´s a holiday season and really there isn´t much difference. Like i don´t feel the normal christmas spirit where i just want to bake and make pretty christmas gifts...but i do feel the spirit of christ. It´s actually been really cool how heavenly father has helped me stay focused on him and the missionary purpose. Together we just want to baptize everyone even more than before. :) So, even though we have hardly had any set appointments this week, we have doné SO many contacts and are determined to have a baptism. 

It´s hard to say everything that i´ve learned in so little time. And all the things that we do. Just know that i know christ lives. I know that he make it possible to be truly happy in this life. That there are second chances and new beginnings. We just have to take them. I love you all so much. I´m so grateful for the love and  the christmas wishes. I hope that you can all take a moment amidst the bustle and business of christmas to remember him all all he has done for you. Have a beautiful christmas week :)

Love,

Hermana Smoot

PS Sorry I havençt sent fotos. My card isn´t working....boo. I will send lots next week. .:)