Week # 27 (Jan 2, 2015) Life is Beautiful!

Hello Grand World!

I feel like weeks just keep passing and passing and everything is going by way to fast. If I could sleep more, I would seriously want to be missionary forever.

I feel like I´m learning so much every day. I have been able to feel the spirit more and more as I really have to rely on it every minute of every day. Even if it´s just an impression to knock on a door and we find awesome super prepared people. Or if it´s just to answer people´s questions during a lesson, or bear testimony of the truth when someone needs to hear it. It´s just amazing to be able to be so close to the spirit. 

We are teaching the Santana family (family night last week) And they are just fabulous. We had Zone Conference this week and again learned a ton about working with members and we are seeing a a huge difference when we do it. This family has a ton of support from the ward now and we are planning on another family night with the bishop (MIRACLE) The father of the family this week, as we talked about the law of chastity, had a lot of questions about Joseph smith and polygamy. And after a lot of discussion, we came to the conclusion that he needed to know with certainty if the book of mormon is true. So we are in the process. But they really are so prepared and we are just trying to help them understand the atonement and help them progres toward real conversion.

I know that the book of mormon is true. Like with Marcelo, all of us have questions and doubts. Even if you are a  faithful, amazing human being. Even if you are a missionary and it´s your life. The doubts come, but I know that they can be resolved through the book of mormon and prayer to know that its true. Read it and ask, even if you already have, and your testimony of all things will grow. 

This church is true and I love you all so much. Keep going and keep enjoying the life that god gave you. Because it´s BEAUTIFUL!

ALL MY LOVE
Hermana Smoot

Sister McClary and I ordered Pizza because we didn't have a dinner appointment. We miss USA pizza! 

Week # 26 (Jan 26, 2015) Planner miracle and more photos.

My comp Hermana McClary is adorable. Plus, cows. 

Photos of the week - Puerto Montt

So hipster. I live in the prettiest place in the world. 

NOCHE de hogar. Con la familia Santana-Reyes

Family NIGHT! We brought rice crispy treats and played My ten comandments game that we made. And of course jenga. 

Look where I live! PUERTO MONTT!

Hola, 

This week has been long and lovely and I just love the mission! We found lots of new people this week and have been talking to a lot of people who don´t have a lot of faith in god. I think it´s one of my favorite things to teach about god and teach that we have a heavenly father who loves us more than we can comprehend. Lot of Ammon and king lamoni moments.(without the chopping off of arms and such.) ;) 

Also, fasting brings so many miracle. Like, ridiculous amounts. I would like to share two:

If anyone has been or is a missionary, you will know that our planner is quite possible the most important thing in the entire world. It has everything that a missionary needs, all of our goals, contacts, appointments, EVERYTHING. And Hermana smoot left it in a collectivo. (like a taxi, but for a lot of people.) And she freaked out a bit. BUT, we were about to start a fast for an investigator and so we decided to fast for my planner as well. I reluctantly started using an extra empty planner and went out to talk to the people. A few hours later we were in a neighborhood and suddenly in the connecting street in front of us, a collectivo stopped. And the driver held up my planner. I could literally not believe my eyes. Hundreds of people go in and out of collectivos and they drive all over the place and there was the same driver and the same car and he somehow knew that it was mine and somehow found us. And still can´t believe it. But all I know is that Heavenly Father is so ready to give us miracles. And when we do our part and have faith in him, he WILL provide. It was quite incredible.

Also, we are teaching an investigator who is just incredible. Her name is susan and we found her during my training a long time ago. But she is progressing a ton. And she is almost ready for her baptism and really wants to be baptized, but she lacks one commandment. The law of chastity. She doesnt live with anyone or anything, just her kids, but she has a boyfriend and sheis 36 and successful and beautiful and wants to enjoy her life. Well, us missionaries, being 19 and 21 year olds without life experience, had no idea what to say or do. So we decided to pray. And we prayed and fasted and talked to a lot of people like our ward mission leader and District leader. We were hoping to recieve some sort of revelation so that we could help her progress toward conversion. And this morning, we saw another miracle. During personal study, we got a call from our ward mission leader. He told us that he had a thought-a revelation- that woke him up and he had to call us. He told us that he had recieved revelation that susan was missing the understanding of true repentance. And true understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ. And although it was so simple, we felt as well that this really was what she needed. She always feels the spirit, but it´s the true doctrine of Jesus Christ that changes attitudes and behavior. We are going to study and strenghten our testimonies and help her to understand what really is the atonement of Jesus Christ. 

I know this church is true. Even as a missionary I still have doubts and I still have fears, but in those moments of peace as I read the scriptures and pray to my heavenly father that I can feel the spirit telling me that it´s true, telling me that I can, telling me that everything is going to be ok and that Jesus Christ is my savior. 

The basics are the most important. Do all you can to understand the atonement as you read, pray and go to church. That really changes people. 

I love you all so very much. Miracles are real. You just have to look for them and have faith. His church. This church of Jesus Christ is true. 

HAVE THE BEST WEEK EVER!!!!!!!

All my love,

Hermana Smoot

Week #25 (Jan. 19, 2014) Hermana McClary is my companion.

Companion: Hermana McClary 
Place: Port Montt, Chile


Hello World!

How is everyone. I just want to take a moment to say that I love my mission. It´s incredible.  I´m still tired in the morning...and other times during the day....and there is still a lot of stress and so much to do, BUT I´M ON A MISSION!  I´m in Chile, I get to bear my testimony every day, I can speak spanish....what? when did that happen...and heavenly father is helping us every day to talk to people through the spirit and to help people come unto Christ. AND IT¨S AMAZING. I´m serious. 

Also, I´m so incredibly blessed to be here with Hermana McClary who is amazing. She is from Las Vegas, but went to went to my Highschool for a year and we are basically the same person. She only has one more transfer than me in the mission and so we are both learning together how to really do missionary work with success. We are trying super hard to work with the members of the ward and I have a lot of hope for our area. UG. Estoy tan feliz. :) (I'm so happy)

We are teaching a family, (mom father and son) right now and they are incredible. They have come to church twice as a family and are progressing more and more toward baptism. But the spirit is so strong with them and we are working hard to recieve revelation for them. It´s so crazy that two young girls from the United States have the responsiblity for the souls of these people. But what I also know is that really we are only instruments. We are here as a mouth piece for God trying our hardest and letting the grace of our heavenly father make up the difference.

I challenge all of you to love with all your heart and DO the will of the lord in everything that you´ve got. Sometimes we feel like we make the same mistakes over and over and even when we are tired with all we are doing, we still feel like we aren´t doing enough. But we can´t forget the enabling power of the atonement. Heavenly Father knows us and he knows our hearts. And we can work miracles with him. 

I love you ALL so much. There really is so much love in my heart for all of you. Thank you for all the people in the ward who sent cards for christmas (Primary -scouts) And the Atwood fam for the package!!  I feel way too loved. :) Have a beautiful week!!!!!!!

LOVE,

Hermana Smoot

Here is what sister McClary said that week: 

It's so fun to see two perspectives and to know how blessed they feel to be with each other right now.

Wow, what a crazy week! 

I just want to start off and say how much I LOVE my mission! I love being able to really feel like I am making a difference in peoples' lives. I love being able to talk about the gospel with everyone. Hermana Smoot is my new companion and she is AMAZING! She really knows what is means to be a missionary. She understands her purpose and why she really wants to serve a mission. I love her. She is from Highland, UT. She went to Lone Peak and she is friends with Madison Reese. We have LOTS to talk about since we both went to Lone Peak!

The missionary work here in Pichipelluco is progressing lots and we are having lots of families to teach! I am in a VERY rich area. My area is right by the OCEAN. The area I am in is breath-taking! It is a cruise port stop town. I wish I had a better camera to show you just how beautiful it is! Oh and they have a McDonald's here!! Everyone has cars too! It is a miracle! People don't have the excuse of not being able to get to church because they all have cars to drive! 

We are teaching 2 families right now that are really progressing. We have 2 family home evenings tonight! One of the families came to church yesterday, it was their second time at church! The dad has an iphone 6 and let me just hold it. I was so amazed! haha. His name is Marcelo, he is really awesome. He has one friend that is LDS and the whole time he has been investigating the church he has been super skeptical but his friend sent him a text message about the church and about how much it has really blessed his life and how families can really be together forever. It was amazing. The lesson was so spiritual and it was awesome to really be able to see that his opinion of the church has changed so much. I am so grateful for the testimony of his friend. I know that this work cannot move forward without the members. WE NEED YOUR TESTIMONIES!! I love this gospel! 

I am so happy because I am in a new area with an AMAZING companion and we are just so happy. 

Hermana Smoot's voice is beautiful, she loves to sing! She is really a blessing to the missionary work here in Puerto Montt.I am so grateful to be her companion! 

I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers because He has answered my prayers. Have a great week! 

Hermana McClary

Week # 24 (Jan. 12, 2015) Cambios, pukies, Life is beautiful!

New Companion: Hermana Bryce Mclary (from Highland/Alpine and Lone Peak, and Vegas)
Area: Puerto Montt-same place
Hello everyone!

I just want to say that I love you all so much. This week was slightly different than others....due to the fact that all three of us in the lovely tri got sick. On different days. Hermana harvey couldn´t walk very well and so we went to a foot doctor to make sure she was ok. Then that night, I felt super sick and ended up puking a lot and recuperating part of the next afternoon. I got a blessing from our ward mission leader and it was really beautiful. Then the day after, Hermana Bretón felt super dizzy and had a really bad headache. So we spent a little bit more time in the house than normal. BUt, thanks to our loving heavenly father, we have all recuperated and are back on our feet working our hearts out.

The president called us this morning and told us that we have CAMBIOS. Hna Bretón is going to be a sister training leader in Osorno, Hna Harvey is going to Punta Arenas (the end of the world) And litter old sister Smoot is staying here, with the two sectors that were put together and a house that fits SIX. And Hna Mclary (Bryce Mclary) from UTAH from LONE PEAK is my companion!!! I don´t acutally know her personally, but we have a lot of mutual friends and I´m really excited to start this transfer. 

There are always a lot of nerves and stress and a lot of things to do, but I know that with the lord really anything is possible. Like it says in Ether 12, the lord shows us our weaknesses so that we can be humble, and when we are humble thos weaknesses can be made strenghts. This is basically the theme of my mission as I have seen so many weaknesses that I didn´t even knew I had. But as we humble ourselves and rely on HIM, we see miracles that we didn´t know were possible. I love you all so much and encourage you all to trust in the lord. And love the life your heavenly father gave you. Becuase it´s beautiful!!

Que disfruten su semana. Les Amo TANTO!
(Enjoy your week. I love you SO MUCH!)

Love,

Hermana Smoot

This picture is really horrible, but it´s funny. And I just want to say that I tried playing an accordian. And it´s a lot harder than it looks....

Week # 23 (Jan. 5, 2015) A story of LOVE and Zoila and CAT PEE

"La vida es tan bella"  -Hermana Breton (Life is so beautiful)

Also, it rained a lot. This super attractive rain look (skirt, jacket boots all rain proof) SWIll be hug in the states soon. I know it. :)

And.....before it was actually cooked. Over a giant grill. Rotissarie style 

This is food in Chile! Our happy new year barbeque!

Hello lovely humans that I love so very much!

This week has been lovely and short and full of everything. (As per usual) There have been so many opportunities to teach and so many people setting goals and doing good things to start the new year. And it´s been incredible to share the spirit during this time. (Dad you were right.) And even though we walked SO MUCH this week, and my body is dying at the end of each day, it was still beautiful and we learned and taught a lot. But to sum it all up, I want to tell a story:

Once upon a time, we were visiting Hermana Zoila. She is from Ecuador and is hilariously crazy and always wears giant flowers in her hair and socks with high heels. She is FULL of life and is wonderful. Zoila is also a hoarder and loves cats. Her house is small and smells like cats and has a lot of boxes and souvenirs and pictures of her life. We all sat down and during our lesson, I looked over and saw that the cat had pooped right there on the floor. And it smelled even better. And then after teaching and feeling the spirit I stood up and felt slightly wet. Hermana Harvey then lovingly informed me that I had sat in cat pee and my whole skirt was wet. What happy news. And so I went the entire day with cat pee on my skirt. But later as I was thinking about the whole experience, I realized how different my attitude would have been before the mission. Because although it was really gross, I really didn´t mind. Before knowing Zoila, going into her house would have been a nightmare, let alone the cat stuff. But in that moment, I realized the incredible power of love. I love hermana Zoila. She is hilarious and beautiful and she has a testimony and a desire to learn. And when you love a person, everything different or weird or gross or interesting about them just melts away, and you see them as Christ and our heavenly father sees us. Beautiful children of God that are on this pathway to perfection along with everyone else!

I want to challenge you all to try to love. Love people the way that god loves us. Because that love is something that stretches beyond all bounds. And as we love other people we can see the love of God in our own lives, and stop thinking about all the problems that we have. 

The gospel is SO true. Keep studying praying and LIVING what you learn. And progressing with love on this crazy pathway of life. 

I love you all!!!

Love,

Hermana Smoot

Week #22 ( Dec 29, 2014) Lots of fun pictures i found on sister Harveys blog!

Hello world!  

How is everyone? I hope  that everyone just had the most amazing christmas  ever! It was an incredible opportunity to be a missionary  on christmas. I missed home a little, but it was so nice just to focus on love and the atonement of our savior jesus Christ. Becuase HE is christmas. 

For christmas  we celebrated it with a family in the ward. They have a big dinner in the night with turkey (that was half frozen....then they had to microwave it...but that´s a story for another day haha.) And then after we  left, they  opened all their  presents after midnight.  On christmas morning we got to open our gifts that we  had from people in the ward and each other and also the  AMAZING package from mom. Thank you so much. Seriously. And we had  to stay in our  house for two days. And I realized that time passes a lot faster when you are working hard. :)

It was so amazing to  talk to you guys this week. You  are all so incredibly supportive and loving. I can´t thank you enough for everything you do for me. It´s amazing to know that I have such a  great support backing  meup.

If there is one thing that I  learned...again...this week it is that of humility. And that really  nothing is possible without it. I think I was feeling a little too confident in my ablities to teach or something and I wasn´t relying on the lord. And we tried to teach and I couldn´t feel the spirit and it was a time of frustration. But I  realized that heavenly father was giving me a little nudge and giving me an opportnity  to learn. I know that I am nothing  without the lord, but with  the lord we can be incredible and "boast of our god." I love this work so much. And there are days that are incredibly hard and your companion steps on your  glasses and you just feel like crying...but looking back, we learn so much. And  with faith  in the lord, all of the little things aren´t important. And we can do everything with Him.

Thank you again so much for everything. there  are not enough thank yous to say for  everything you have done. I wish you all love and happiness in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Happy new year. And happy anniversary yesterday mom and dad!!

Love, Hermana Smoot

P.S. Yes my glasses broke......is there a possibility that you could send new ones? We´ll have to figure that one out. 

PS I  just love   you all. 

Week # 21 ( Dec 22, 2014) Merry Christmas/FELIZ NAVIDAD y MAs Felicidad.

Ok. I´m just so happy right now. 

This week was crazy and so incredibly lovely. I just love the mission. And christmas in the mission is actually really lovely. And everyone tries to make is special. For example, we had an activity with 2 other zones and the president and his wife. We ate together an put on skits and then we all went to this big plaza in downtown puerto montt and SANG christmas songs. (And they let me sings a solo/duet and it felt way to good to be in front of a microphone. way too good.) But really. Christmas is so amazing and we have been still been singing for everyone and their dogs to bring te spirit. At doors and on the street and for all! 

But there are things in the mission, aside all that is beautiful, that are so incredibly hard that your heart just feels like it´s going to explode.

Names have been changed.
This week I learned so much of the grace an mercy an love of our savior Jesus Christ. The other day we went to the Lopez house.  We were always excited to teach this family, especially the father, Javier.  When we went in, he wasn´t there and when we asked his family they told us that he had been drinking. I honestly couldn´t believe it. And I thought it was a joke. But it was true. And at the end of our lesson with them, Javier came down the stairs, a little bit drunk still, with tears in his eyes and the deepest remorse in his face. When we left I was heartbroken. He is baptized and he already stopped drinking. He was always our hope. The person who we could count on to do his reading and to come to church. Someone with a testimony. Someone who changed. How could this happen. But I was studying the next morning the talk that Elder Packer gave on the Hope of christ this conference. And I realized that everything I new about starting over and clean slates applied more than ever. The power and hope of the atonement of jesus christ stretche beyond all  bounds of comprehension. He can start over. Even if he has already changed and been forgiven. We all make mistakes and no matter how big the fall, we always more forward and upward with the light of christ. 

I know with all my heart that this church is true. And the our savior directs it. I hope that this christmas we can not only remember that perfect quiet baby in bethlehem, but that we can remember the savior and redeemer who suffered for each one of us so that we can live a life of happeness. Free of guilt and pain. And eventually return to our father through him.

I love  you ALL!! Merry Christmas.

Love Ally

PS we are going to have christmas with a family in the ward. And here it´s the night before that is huge. Where they eat and open all the gifts at midnight. 

PPS I gave my first talk and spanish! Woohoo. That was interesting. But good overall. Also, english is really hard now. 

Feliz Navidad! del Trio. Hna Bretòn, Hna Harvey y Hna Smoot!

Also, fed a goose. It was great.