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!

Week #39 (Apr. 27) A slightly erruptive week... Volcano eruption!

Hello world!

This week was just horribly boring.....knocking doors, talking to people, more door knocking, volcano calbuco errupted, more talking to people. 

Oh, that´s right, A volcano errupted! Ok, sorry for the (bad) humor. i know that you guys are freaking out with the lack of information. But just know that we are actually totally fine. We were in a lesson with a less active when she looked out the window and said "THE VOLCANO IS ERRUPTING!" And we all ran outside and started taking pictures. Then the sister started flipping out becuase her husband was in is farm a lot closer to the Volcano. Then our district and zone leaders called us frantically saying "go to the church! go to the church! right now!" So we said a prayer to calm down the hermana that we were with and booked it to the chapel. We met the elders there and watched the progress of the volcano and took pictures. 

This was in the nigh with the sunset. Obviously freaking out. :)

Meanwhile our bishops and stakepresidents were calling presidente obeso and we were just kind of waiting, wondering what woud happen. That night we all got the news that we would be staying in member´s homes. So our bishop came and picked us up and we went to a member´s house to stay the night. The next morning a lot of the ash had already blown over to Argentina and everything had alread died down. We spent the day visiting the members and giving service and making sure that everyone is ok. The only thing that really got hit was all of the farms in Ensenada, an area a lot closer to the Volcano. It´s far away, but in our ward and there were some very less active members who were affected. A whole bunch of volcanic rock/sand just filled everything up. It´s like being snowed in, but with 3 feet of sand and rocks. But we´ve actually seen a lot of miracles. The elders we able to go and serve the family and they came to the church on sunday. And are staying next door. But what´s really neat is that there are so many people now who are really thinking about god and about the things that matter most. And the fact that nobody died and they all have their family member´s there. We were just a little scared, but everything is fine. And it´s been a really great conversation starter as well. :) 

I hope that everything is going well with all of you. The church is so true. I´m so grateful for the opportunity I have to bear my testimony every day of the truthfullness. And each time i do, my testimony strengthens that much more. I wish you all well and hope that there are no natural distasters that come your way. :) but remember that everything happens for a reason. God is in charge!

I love you all so much!

Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Smoot!

Vlcanos!

This was in the nigh with the sunset. Obviously freaking out. :)

Week # 38 (April 20, 2015)

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!

Week # 37 ( April 13,2015) I have officially moved to Puerto Varas-So lovely!

New Area: Puerto Varas ! I LIVE IN THE PRETTIEST CITY IN CHILE!!!

New Companion:  Mi compy. Hermana Ralph (from Florida, Hawaii and Utah (now) :)

Hello lovelys!

What. A. Week. Seriously last week was general conference. What happened. 

I have officially moved to Puerto Varas, which is one of the loveliest most touristy towns of the mission. (google it, it´s gorgeous) And I love it. 

We live behind some members who have a little tiny home in their backyard. And it´s super adorable. And clean with running water, mom. Ok, so sometimes we don´t have hot water.....and there´s no oven. But it´s still adorable. My area is pretty big and a lot poorer than my other. With more drunk men at night....and in the day. But don´t worry, we follow the spirit and avoid certain parts in the night :) But my ward is incredible. They are all really enthusiastic about the work and the bishop and ward mission leader are really dedicated. (we are going to see miracles) 

We live next to a family..the HUGE Cortes family. Mom, it´s like if the whole Woolf family lived in one ward. They make up half of it. But they own a fruit farmers market and WE GET FREE FRUITS AND VEGETABLE WHENEVER WE WANT!!  It´s literally like a dream come true. I´m basically living the dream here in the mission. My companion is super awesome and likes to work hard is slightly timid, but only around people we don´t know, and really adorable. We´ve been having a lot of fun knocking doors in the rain. There are TONS of less actives here and a lot of our work is dedicated to them. There aren´t a ton of progressing investigators....yet. :) That´s what we are working towards. So if you all want to pray for the Colon ward and that we can find people and families that are prepared, feel free. We are praying and fasting a ton to find them. And obviously working our little tails off knocking on doors and talking to whoever will listen. 

We are working specifically towards helping reactivate Sofia,  vicente´s mom. She wants her son to be baptized but she´s not totally active. And he can´t get baptized without an active parent. So we are working toward helping her get active and get a calling. But we are already seeing miracles. OF what i heard, she used to be really stand-offish and anti-church. But she came and stayed all 3 hours and participated and is making friend with ward members and wants to have family nights with people. And it´s super awesome. And I can feel more miracles coming.

I love you all SO MUCH. i hope everything goes well this week and that Kenna isn´t too sunburned from her cousin cruise. (so jealous. SO) 

Heavenly father is watching out for each and every one  of us. Just trust him and study his scriptures and pray to him. He will be there. Have a beautiful day and god bless you!

Love,

Hermana Smoot

We went to Volan Calbuco

This is from our open house at the church in Pichi Pelluco.

Our apartment is adorable Love it- Its a tiny kitchen, bathroom and room with 2 beds. but adorable ;)

 I Found the fattest bear dog. We´re both strugglin (Ally is totally hilarious here! I can just hear her voice as she is saying it)

Gorgeous rain gear. Just...gorgeous. 

Week #36 (April 6, 2015) So many things! Leaving Puerto Montt! after 8 months in one spot!

My lovely missionary roomies!

The open house. We made little flags and felt so official. :)

Easter Activity. ( with the ZLs in our ward)

SO many things happened this week I have no idea where to start. But first of all I´M LEAVING PUERTO MONTT!  I know. It´s hard for everyone to believe. :) But yes. I´m am going to Puerto Varas, which is a grand 20 minutes from puerto montt and is actually where Marcelo Santana is from. So hopefully we will all be able to meet up one p-day. I´m going to miss their family so much. Actually I´m going to miss everything so much. Including the lovely hermana McClary.She is the best. (At least we´ll see each other after the mission) But I´m really really excited to have new doors to knock new people to meet a new ward to love and change. It´s hard, but really really good.

Also, for the chruch easter video we had a church open house on tuesday to show some exhibits and the video at the end. The sisters started out contacting everyone (According to elder nelson, the sisters are missionary work´s secret weapon) So we again talked to everyone and their dog to get them to come into the church. :) And we saw miracles. After a while we went inside to show the video and there was a girl there named angela. it was just her and us in the chapel. She moved up to see the TV better and then before we could even push play she told us that she had felt something so different here. Something that she had never felt before but the she really really liked. And she wanted to know how she could join. LIke, join the church. I couldn´t really believe it. But we talked to her and told her that this really was the truth and how amazing it was that she could feel it so quickly. She doesn´t live in our area, but it was amazing to see the power of the spirit affect someone so strongly. THE CHURCH IS TRUE PEOPLE!

Also, we had our easter activity. Which was really fun and a lot more stressing than I thought it would be. BUT, it all turned out after making about 100 mini cupcakes and decorating and inviting the whole world. We are hoping that the ward starts having more activities, because it doesn´t really happen a whole lot here. But DANIELA came and really enjoyed herself and met a lot of the members. Including her neighbors which we´ve been trying to make happen for weeks now. Miracles really do happen with lots of prayer and work. :)

Lets talk about conference! Wow. I´m serious conference is the best thing ever. Especially when the santana family lets you watch two whole sessions in ENGLISH. It was the best thing ever. On sunday we watched both in spanish but Daniela AND her boyfriend Julio came!! They really liked it and on tuesday we are going to have a lesson on chastity so that they can get baptized. It was absolutely amazing because we haven´t been able to find Julio becuase he works a ton. But we found them sunday morning in their house and the two of them came in the afternoon. It was such a miracle. 

 I really have a testmony of the prophets. They really teach us what we need TODAY. And I was able to recieve a lot a answers to a lot of questions. I challenge you all to watch or rewatch the sessions and really look for revelation. It´s there but you have to put in a little effort as well. I love this gospel. Things aren´t always perfect and I am so far from it. SO far. But that is the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We put in our effort, (Always falling short.) And his grace is always sufficient to lift us up. I love you all and wish you the VERY best week. 

All my love,

Hermana Smoot

This is Hermana Zoila (cat lady) She´s missing the giant pink flower in her hair.