Week 21

THE MISSIONARY LIFE

Okay this week was CRAZY! First something that will make my mom and grandma very happy. This new area I`m in has a piano so I`m accompanying absolutely everything! haha In our baptism on Saturday we had 4 elders from our zone come and they all sang A Child's Prayer while I accompanied and it was really pretty :) and usually if I`m not playing I`m conducting.  I guess all those years of piano lessons and music is paying off!  Thanks mom :) 

This past Tuesday one of our members passed away. He was pretty old and sick too. He was the only member in his family and his wife is a Jehovah Witness. So when we went to the funeral it was so different and so depressing.  Seeing this and having many different experiences in my mission, I know, without a doubt that the Plan of Salvation is true. I know that it`s a plan just for us and that there is life after death. And I know that  it`s only possible because of our loving Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. 

INVESTIGATORS

Mariela: This women is a rock! We we`re teaching her mother in law the plan of salvation and without us saying anything afterward she gave us her phone number and address and told us to visit her. haha okay great! When we taught her she was so into the lesson! She was so excited when we gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to read it for our next lesson. I love teaching people that you can actually tell that they are interested in the gospel and want to learn more! 

Carmen: So the way we found Carmen was nuts! We had one of our members with us to accompany us to lesson and our lesson fell through. So we asked him if he knew any less actives in the area we could visit. He lead us to Carmen's house. She`s not a member, and doesn`t really have a religion but believes in God. And her and our member are family friends. When we were sitting in her house she was very honest with us and said that if we had come without her friend, she wouldn`t have let us in, and that when we walked into her house she could feel something different. The testimony of our member that was with us helped a ton! He told her that this gospel has changed his life, and because he loves her, he wants this happiness for her as well. After that she wants us in her house every other day! Please oh please be that member that follows the spirit and shares their testimony! What a help for us to have an awesome member like this and that he followed the promptings of the spirit. Be the difference in someones life!!!

JOANA: WE HAD A BAPTISM THIS WEEK!!!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOO Joana has been ready for awhile to get baptized but on Saturday she made her first covenant with her Heavenly Father and I was privileged enough to be apart of it :) She is a single mom with 2 kids. Both of her kids have been members for about a year and set such a good example for her. 2 weeks after her son was baptized he got the news that he had cancer. He`s 15 years old. Joana has seen first hand the Lords hand in her life and her trials have helped her grow stronger in the gospel. When planning her baptism this week we had problem after problem after problem. On Saturday we started 1 1/2 hours late because of a billion different problems. It got to a point where she said maybe it`s just better if I wait to get baptized. oh my talk about Satan working his hardest till the last minute! Literally! And the water in the baptismal font was cold! ah but she did it!  And it was beautiful and I`m so happy I got to be apart of it! 

FUNNY STORY

1. We were walking in the street and a bird pooped on Hna Staples!!! hahah 

2. We got locked in the church and our keys were outside. Please don't ask how we accomplished this but it was a little ridiculous! We had to call one of our members to come let us out and it was the joke of the ward on Sunday haha

SCRIPTURE

Alma 41

This chapter is only 15 verses so please please read it! It`s absolutely amazing! It talks a lot about our agency here on earth and how we can use this gift for good or for bad. I love in v5 where it talks about the desire. If you have a desire to be good, a desire to be righteous, you can make your decisions to accomplish those things. But if you don't have that desire, you`re not going to accomplish anything. Also in v11 it says that the nature of God is the nature of Happiness. How perfect is that? When we follow Gods commandments and truly follow him we are happy. Not the worldly happy, but we feel this happiness that is eternal. I love that! 

¨You have nothing to fear from your trials¨

les quiero para todos!!!

thank you for all the prayers! i love you all!

Hermana Smoot

Our trio getting ice cream -Hermana Sanchez, me and Hermana Staples

Week 19:  Does the Plan of Salvation apply to cats?

MISSION LIFE

So this week we had to go to Mendoza becuase as of right now I´m illegal. haha So we had to go and do paper work and stuff but we made it fun! We ate McDonalds and it was so weird! I haven´t seen a fast food place in almost 5 months, and good heck, it´s worse than I remember! We got back and Hna Sanchez woke up Saturday with a fever, so I cleaned the apartment and did some extra excercises and wow, it felt so good to actually sweat! Monday night we had a family home evening with one of our less active families and we made homemade empanades!! ahhhhh I promise it´s the food of the gods! So good! and I absolutly love that family! They´re awesome :) 

Making empanadas!

 This is 2 of the kids in the family for our Family Home evening. The little boy, ¨Gringo¨, everyone says he´s my brother! haha And I fully accept that becuase he reminds me a TON of Lockwood!

INVESTIGATORS

We didn´t have much time to work this week :( but with our little time we still found a new investigator! Her name is Sandra and she has a heart defect and only has about 10 years max to live. Her perspective on the whole situation is incredible! She said she´s not afraid to die, she knows that God will help her complete her purpose here before she returns to him. The only thing that scares her is what happens to her 8 year old son when she dies. She is one amazing women :) I´m really excited to teach her!

Brenda (another less active) turned 14 on monday!

FUNNY

So we were in the house of this one man, just getting to know him, and figure out how we could help him. He said his wife had died a couple years ago, so we started to talk about the Plan of Salvation and how he could live with her again for eternity. He responded with ¨I don´t really want to live with her for forever. I really love my cat. Is it possible for me to live with my cat forever?¨ haha I couldn´t tell if he was serious or not!! But oh yes -  He was dead serious!

SCRIPTURE

Because we went to Mendoza this week and on Saturday Hna Sanchez was sick, I´ve had a lot of time to study.

 

2 Nephi 4:15-35

We all pass thorugh things in our life. Good and bad. Happy and gut wrenching. Experiences that make us jump for joy and experiences that make us cry for days. But every single experience, every trial, every challenge, every story, is for our benefit. We learn things every day whether we recognize it or not. Through our experiences we become better people. None of us are perfect and sometimes in these trials and tribulations we fall short of the mark. We make mistakes. We sin. But this is the beauty of the Atonement. (Alma 34:8-16) We will never be able to fully understand the Atonement or the purpose behind it. The love our Heavenly Father has for us, to give his Only Begotten Son, to suffer for EVERY sin. EVERY bad feeling. EVERY pain, physically, mentally emotionally. Of EVERY person that has lived, is living, and will live (not only on this earth). Without this act, this eternal and infinite act of love, what would we work for?   Without the Atonement we don´t have the Plan of Salvation, we can´t repent and become clean of our sins, we wouldn´t be able to really feel eternally happy. The Book of Mormon is key to our religion, but the Atonement of Jesus Christ is our rock.(Helamen 5:12) If we build our foundation on this rock. The rock of our Savior, we will return to him. 

les quiero mucho para todos!!!

hermana smoot

All of my little chicos :)

Week 18

First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! I´m decked out in red white and blue today to show off my gringo pride haha there´s a chance I might get shot but hey, at least I´m dying with patriotism and the Lord’s name on my chest! haha But this week also is Independence day for Argentina so my patriotism is at an all time high. haha

LA VIDA DE A MISIONARIA

 So it´s freaking cold. Who knew that Argentina ever got cold? Right now we´re at an average of 35-30 degrees a day. And since we don´t have many investigators, we are outside knocking doors most of the day. It´s not to bad, but the worst is when it starts raining! Oh that´s miserable.  But we have ways to make it fun :) 

This week we went to San Luis for our Zone meeting and about half of the zone is new! Every companionship in the zone had a change except for 1. It´s awesome for me because I absolutely love meeting new people! Lot´s of new friends :)

This past Thursday we did service for one of our investigators. ON HER FARM. We worked for 4 hours feeding and cleaning the stalls of pigs, chickens, sheep and horses. It was so much fun! Hna Sanchez had never seen sheep in real life before and she was so excited. It was disgusting but every time we have weird or hard experiences I´m just really excited to tell my kids about it one day! 

This week one of our less actives made us lunch and oh my gosh this women could cook for the president! It was the best food ever! Until I found a hair in my food. But it wasn´t a human hair. It´s normal to find human hair in your food here. You just take it out and move on with life. But no. This hair was attached to the meat. I couldn´t just stop eating, so I ate it and it just tickled my tongue a little bit. That´s the difference from the States and Argentina. In the states if you find hair of any kind in your food, you ask for a new plate and sue. In Argentina you just take it out and keep eating. And if it´s attached to something, you just pray it´s not alive or a head. And most likely whatever it is, you eat that too. haha Welcome to my life here ;)

INVESTIGATORS:

Jose attended church again this week and I was so happy!!! (again) haha but he´s been stuck at 16-15 cigarettes a day for about 3 weeks and we´ve been trying everything to help him. A blessing, calling him 3 times a day, and tons of other little tricks. Super frustrating but I know he can do it! 

Juan. This week we had a lesson with Juan just to see what to do. We talked about the priesthood and the Restoration and he knows it all. It´s just the lack of motivation to act. So we won´t be teaching him anymore. He doesn´t want to get baptized right now. So when he does want to act, he knows where the church is. 

Nicole and Abigail: Our little chicas went to church by themselves and were there early!!! Oh my gosh how awesome is that!! They are progressing so much! 

FUNNY STORY

We had a lesson with one of our investigators and her husband decided to listen to the lesson with us. This couple is 70 years old or more. And during the lesson the old man looked at Hna Sanchez and started saying some random stuff and then said ¨Te Amo¨(i love you) and we both just looked at each other and tried not to lose it in the lesson! It was so uncomfortable but so funny!

  Usually when I don´t understand what people say I just smile and say ¨oh que bueno¨ (oh that´s great). We were talking to one of the kids of our less actives and she said her cousin died. I didn´t understand so I just smiled and said ¨Que bueno¨haha Hna Sanchez looked at me and said. ¨hermana, her cousin DIED¨ oh my so embarrassing!!! But we laughed about it later!

  While we were knocking doors there was a sign on one door that literally said, ¨If you´re a Mormon, please don´t knock our door”  haha 

SCRIPTURE:

So today I just have one amazing quote! 

¨Weaknesses become strengths, challenges become opportunities, trials become triumphs, and adversity becomes an adventure in the service of the Lord¨

-M Russell Ballard

This week has been really hard with not many lessons or progression. But when I read this quote I had a ton of peace! As long as we´re sharing our testimony we´re fulfilling our purpose! 

les quiero much

hermana smoot

Week 17

First and most importantly, this week is my sister’s birthday and my grandma beccas birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO 2 OF MY FAVORITE AND MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN MY LIFE!!! I love you both till the worlds end and beyond! Have the most amazing birthdays :) 

VIDA DE A MISIONARA:

So we had transfers and I got a new companion. Hna Sanchez! She´s an absolute doll and I love her! She´s from El Salvador and is just as spunky and weird as I am haha it´s the best! Also we broke our cell phone. So we´re 6 hours away from the offices, and have no way to communicate with anyone. Haha how great is that? 

INVESTIGATORS:

Jose: my investigator that is slowly slowly slowly progressing attended sacrament meeting this week!!!!! I was so excited!! I saw him and I just started crying! We had a lesson with him on Saturday and he received a blessing of strength to help him stop smoking because he´s kinda plateaued  at about 14 cigarettes a day. Ah he´s the best !

Jordan and Mary: We got Jordan to pray for the first time in his whole life!!! He´s never attended any church, he´s never prayed or read the scriptures and in our last lesson about faith he said the closing prayer! I was crying during the prayer I was so happy! And on top of that it was one amazing prayer :)

(If you can´t tell I cry a lot now! I don´t know why but when i´m happy I cry. When I feel the spirit, I cry. When i´m stressed I cry. So weird.

Nicole: Nicole is our little 11 year old that is golden! Reads and prays every day and has the highest number of assistencias out of all of our investigators! We passed by her house on Saturday to reminder her about church the next day and she said that her dad (that doesn´t live in the same house as her, never visits, and doesn´t give the mom money to help pay for the expenses) said he doesn´t like it when Nicole and her sisters attend our church ….. So we´re kinda in a rough spot with that. And it´s even worse when as Nicole was telling us this she started crying because she wants to go to church and wants to get baptized. 

FUNNY/REALLY COOL STORY:

So yesterday (Sunday) we were walking to church and it was pouring rain! And I mean it was like taking a shower! Ah it was nuts and freezing cold but so much fun! We were singing at the top of our lungs all these hymns and people as they drove by thought we were literally crazy! At one point I looked behind me and there was this little 10 year old kid videoing us hahaha what the heck??? So if any of you see a video of 2 crazy sister missionaries singing and dancing in the rain, that´s me :) When we got back to the apartment later that day we were both soaked! All of our clothes were drenched!

    We have a new member in our branch! One of our members got baptized! She´s so sweet! She asked that the missionaries attend her baptism because she wants to serve a mission someday! How cute is that?

   ESTOY A LATINA!!! I AM A LATINA!!! After 3 days with my new companion, Hna Sanchez, she told me that my personality is more Latina than gringo, I just have to change my skin ton and I´m a Latina haha wahooooo I was so happy!! Best compliment ever!! Then we were on the phone with one of our members and she thought I was my companion!! Literally best things anyone could ever say to me haha

SCRIPTURE:

Alma 23-24 This is the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis when they converted to the gospel and buried their weapons of war. In chapter 24 they talk about how this action, burying their weapons was a testimony to God of their faithfulness and how they truly wanted to change. What are our ¨weapons of war¨ that we need to burry to truly be people of God. To truly show our love for him. Habits, attitudes, addictions, thoughts. What is holding us back from receiving ALL  the blessings God has in store for us? One thing that also stuck out to me in these chapters is that as their enemies are preparing to attack and kill them all, their king prays. But in the prayer he didn´t ask for help, or protection or for the hearts of their enemies to be softened. He gave thanks. He thanked God for helping his people accept the gospel and for forgiving them of their sins. How many times in our trials do we forget to look at the mountains of blessings we´ve received? My companion and I have made a goal that AT LEAST once a week offer of prayer of just things we´re grateful for. I invite all of you to do the same! ESPECIALLY when you´re going through a hard time or a trial! 

¨We should come running unto him¨

-Elder Andersen

les quiero mucho :)

Hermana Smoot

This is Ornella :) the newest member of the branch of Justo Daract!

​Me and Hna Sanchez taking a shower on the way to church haha

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST SISTER EVER!!!

Week 16

First and most importantly HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO THE BEST FATHER IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!!!! and to all you other amazing fathers that have been like my 2nd fathers. To all my uncles, my grandpa, my cousins, and all those amazing men in my ward and neighborhood!!! Thank you for your love and service! Especially thank you for being worthy priesthood holders and serving in your callings with all your heart. There are many times when I have learned very valuable lessons from the men in my life and they´re lessons that have helped shaped me to who I am today. Thank you for everything you fathers of the world! :) ¨Fathers are irreplaceable” - Elder Christofferson 

MISSIONARY LIFE:Transfers Transfers Transfers!!!!! *drum roll* I´m staying in Justo Daract for another transfer!!!Wahooooooo I´m so happy :) I promise transfers are the most nerve racking thing in the whole wide world. Haha the anticipation stinks! But Hna Gonzales is leaving me :( she´s going to be a Sister Training leader in Mendoza. I´m getting my new companion tomorrow. Her name is Hna Sanchez and I´ve actually met her! She´s training one of the girls who entered the mission the same time I did. It´ll be a little weird to have a new companion after 3 months with the same person all day every day, but, it´s the life of a missionary. Friday I hit 4 months …… what. So weird. We bought a little cake and danced to MoTab in the apartment. haha that´s how missionaries celebrate. Last Monday we had a district P-Day in Villa Mercedes because it was the last one where we would all be together. It was so much fun! We went and got lunch and the ate ice cream in the park and talked and played games. Out of the 6 of us, 3 left at the transfer. Elder Solomon, our district leader finished his mission, his companion Elder Puyol went home, and Hna Gonzales is leaving us. But I had one awesome district that helped me a ton to adjust to the mission! I love them all :) 

INVESTIGATORS:This week was soooooooooo slow. Good heck its like everyone died. This weekend they had a 4 day weekend so a ton of people left for the weekend, and then Sunday was fathers day so everyone was drinking or with family or both. We tried talking to people and knocking doors and making appointments, but from thursday-monday (today) no one ¨has time¨. psh ya okay. But Saturday morning we actually got lucky and got a new investigator! Her name is Silvia. You always hear those stories and how people say ¨the Lord prepares people for the gospel through the experiences in their lives” and wow Silvia is walking evidence of that! Both of her parents died when she was a teenager and her and her sister lived in and out of the streets for 26 years. She´s always tried looking for a church to give her peace but never felt that they were right for her. Then she straight up told us ¨I wanna stop smoking cause I don´t wanna die. But I´ve tried before and I think I need the help of the Lord¨ I almost started jumping up and down screaming ¨WE HAVE ANSWERS! WE CAN HELP YOU!!¨ haha Our other investigator Jose struggled a little this week. He smoked a little more than usual and his weekly average was up at 18 :( and then he didn´t come to church. dang it. But he wants to be better and as long as he has that desire to change, we´ll be there to help :)  

FUNNY STORY:So I don´t know if i´ve mentioned this guy before but there is a man that lives just one block from our apartment and he sings.And I mean every time he sees us ¨Ehhhhhh Bonita!¨ and then sings us a love song in Spanish! We always thought he was creepy so we never talked to him. But one morning this week we thought, what the heck. And wow ya this guy is weird. We asked him if he needed help with anything, sweeping his patio, cleaning dishes, and he said he needed us to fill a hole .... Uh okay. We we´re thinking a whole in his backyard. He then finished the sentence and said to fill the hole in his heart without love. Hahahhahaha WOW what a lady killer! 
We were visiting our little chicos and our 2 investigators, Nicole and her sister Cati wanted to be missionaries, so they took our bags, glasses and badges and went and knocked the door of one of our members and said ¨Hello, we´re missionaries of the Mormon church and we have a message that can change your life¨ haha the member played along and got the girls to share and scripture and their testimony! how stinkin cute! And they're not even baptized! 

SCRIPTURE: 

Alma 31:31 Oh Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful, wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people.

In our last district meeting we watched a video titled ¨The Atonement and Missionary Work¨with the voices of President Eyring and Elder Holland. That video has changed my perspective as a missionary and as a member. This week in the mission was really hard for me. With not many lessons, lots of doors slammed in our faces, and a drunk guy throwing a beer bottle at us and spitting at us, you could say it wasn´t a week of sunshine and rainbows. This week and other weeks, I´ve found myself asking Why is the mission so hard? Our gospel has all the answers, why aren´t people lining up to get baptized? Why don´t people keep our invitations? Missionary work isn´t easy. Being a member of our church in a world and society as wicked as it is right now, isn´t easy. Being different isn´t easy. But it´s because salvation isn´t easy.  When we suffer, it sucks. When we´re sad or have a hard time in life, it´s not fun. But it´s just a sliver of what our Lord and Savior felt for us. How he suffered for our happiness. We will never ever EVER understand fully what Jesus Christ did for us, the only thing we can understand is that it was all done out of love for us. His brothers and sisters. 
les quiero mucho!!Hermana Smoot 

Cati and Abigail (2 of our investigators)

My district :)  Hna Sangama, Hna Henrie, Me, Hna Gonzales, E Puyo, E Solomen

Week 15 Can you baptize your pregnant unmarried investigator?

MISSIONARY LIFE
So last week on P-day we had a family home evening with one of our less actives and her kids. Andrea. And we made home made scones and the kids taught us how to dance and it was the funnest thing! We also played soccer with a group of 8 boys and I still can`t get over how good these kids are! They keep me updated on the American Cup (it`s a soccer tournament going on right now). These kids eat sleep and breath soccer. In our lessons we have to relate the gospel to soccer to get them to pay attention! 
  This week we had our second exchanges but this time our sister training leaders came to Justo Daract!! It was so much fun cause we never have visitors!!! Literally NEVER! It was so much fun though :) We also had a zone conference (which includes the president of the mission) and our Stake Conference. So we we`re in San Luis (2 1/2 hours away) on Friday and on Sunday so it took a lot of time out of our week. But we learned a lot so it was worth it :) Our stake is as big as my ward. Literally. It`s so weird because for our stake conferences it`s in that huge building that seats like a million people, but for our stake conference here in Argentina, it`s in a chapel the same size as my chapel at home, and everyone fits just fine. One day there will be just as many members in Argentina as there are in Utah. I don`t know if that day will be while i`m here or even in my life time but i`m so excited for that day!

INVESTIGATORS
First Mary and Jordan: Mary is pregnant!!!!!! And the funny thing is she tells us this the week after we taught the law of Chastity hahah Mary and Jordan aren`t married but have 2 kids together and have lived together for like 15 years. We`re hoping to use this new baby as leverage to get them to get married and get Jordan to stop drinking. haha that might come across wrong but we gotta use our resources to motivate them haha
Jose: Smoking a little less every day and he absolutely loves prophets! We gave him a Liahona that had all the conference talks in it and asked him to read one specific talk to help him. We came back and he had read half the magazine and loved it! 
Juan: At this point with Juan we don`t really know what to do. After he went all Evangelico on us and called out our district leader to repent we`re kinda at a stand still. We invited him to come to the Stake conference and he said yes! At the end we had him meet our mission president and talk to him. This is basically our last resort. haha  He didn`t talk much on the bus ride home but hopefully talking to Pres Goates helped a little. 

FUNNY THINGS
So first, I found a scripture that was very enlightening in my situation right now. Proverbs 28:25 ¨He that putteth his trust in the Lord will be made fat¨ It`s pretty self explanatory. 
  On Monday when we were playing soccer I broke my investigators finger!! Ahhh I felt so bad. She was playing goalie and I kicked the ball and it brushed her finger and idk just bent it wrong and it broke! I felt so bad! But in my defense she`s 20 years old and before she said she wanted to see the soccer skills of a gringa ... karma. haha I made her brownies and we`re all good :)
   During our exchanges I was knocking doors and we came across a lady that is quite unusual. We didn`t even have time to introduce ourselves when she walked out, she just started talking and talking and talking for 15 mins before we told her we were missionaries! She then said we needed to do some exercises for our eyes. It took my whole soul not to bust up laughing!  We we`re outside her house for 40 mins and we maybe got in 6 sentences haha

SCRIPTURE
Alma 5. The whole chapter is the best!!! But to concentrate on one verse Alma 5:14 ¨Have ye been spiritually born of God? Have you received his image in your countenances? Have you experienced a mighty change in your heart?¨ The whole chapter is absolutely amazing and very humbling. It really makes you evaluate if you`re living as a disciple of Christ. Please go read it! It’s the best :) When I read it I recognized a lot of things I can work on -  In the mission and as a person. None of us are perfect and that`s the beauty of life. But to live a perfect life is to live a life of perfect repentance!
¨Someday .. I`ll be perfect. Because of him¨-Elder Johnson

les quiero mucho
hermana smoot

ps sorry for the lack of pictures! My camera won`t connect to this computer. I'll send them next week :)

Week 14

buen dia amigos :) 

MISSIONARY LIFE

People people people.The first milagro (miracle)of the week is I HAD MY FIRST HOT SHOWER IN 9 WEEKS!!!!!!!! oh my gosh it was hands down the best feeling in the whole wide world and for the rest of my life I will never take hot water for granted! NEVER. Right now we have an apartment that is totally functioning. Gas, a kitchen, hot water, a washer, everything. I feel like I´m royalty right now! haha 

We found another giant spider in the kitchen this week. We spent 30 mins trying to kill it. It's always an adventure when we find an unexpected guest in our apartment. 

INVESTIGATORS

Jose: Jose is slowing stopping to smoke and I´m so stinking happy! In this past week he’s down 6 cigarettes a day! wahooooo 

Jordan y Mary y Familia: We committed Jordan and the girlfriend of his son to a baptismal date, but it´s way far away because we have to get Jordan to stop drinking and smoking. Haha but he´s pumped to change. He really likes our messages and the gospel!

Juan: okay wow. This week Juan is literally miracle after miracle! Last week he committed to a baptismal date after 5 months of investigating the church. He´s been ready for a long time but the one thing holding him back is his mom and family. He doesn´t have a wife or kids so his siblings and his mom is all he has. After he committed to the date he went to go tell his family about his decision and they freaked out! They had an intervention with him with all of his friends from church and his pastor. They were ripping on the church and Joseph Smith and Juan defend the church and bore his testimony! Heck ya! He told us he still wanted to get baptized! He said he knows the church is true and he wouldn´t give that up for anything. The next day his mom said if he got baptized he would get kicked out of his house (the house he lives in is owned by his mom) This decision was really hard. Then on Friday he came home after work and his family had taken all of his clothes and put them in the street in front of the house. If he attended church on Sunday was the real test. And he was in all 3 hours of church! Talk about a modern day pioneer! Just has incredible faith and is such an amazing example! Right now he has his baptismal date for this Saturday, but we´ll see what happens .... 

We had a crazy experience on Friday! We were walking home for lunch and this man in a truck stopped in front of us and told us how he really respects what we´re doing and wants us to come and teach him in his home. Ahhhh WHAT? Since when do people stop us in the street and ask to be taught? Haha okay awesome!

FUNNY STORY 

So I got proposed to this week so I will be staying in Argentina after my mission and having little latino babies. Chau :) haha just kidding! But seriously I got proposed to and it was really weird because at first I didn´t understand what was going on. But even better it´s my investigator Juan that proposed. I tried to explain that the mission is a time when all my thoughts and feelings are focused on the gospel and that after the mission I have a life and school and work in the states. He then asked how much time I needed to complete school and work and move to Argentina! hahahaha  I guess you could say I have the light of Christ ;)

SCRIPTURE

Alma 26:15

My favorite phrase in this scripture is ¨encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love¨ God has this ¨matchless love¨for all of us and he helps in absolutely ever aspect of our lives! He answers the simplest of prayers and knows exactly how we feel in every moment! And I am blessed beyond belief to have his help and his spirit with me in the work. Without the Spirit or the help of our Heavenly Father we can´t accomplish anything. (In the mission and in life)  If we want our works to have eternal worth, all of our actions need to be done through Christ. 

¨For tomorrow the Lord will work wonders among us¨ - Elder Holland    

Hermana Smoot 

Week 13

LA SEMANA

Another week with not much time in Justo Daract, pero esta bien. We went to Mendoza again this week for a conference with the president of our area, Elder Texiera who is a member of the 70. He is absolutely inspired ( just like every leader of the church) but I really learned a lot! It was awesome! Also this week I hit my 3 month mark which is a little strange considering I feel like it´s been forever since I left home and I still have a ton of time left. But I just remember what my branch president from the MTC said, ¨The best way to kill time is to work it to death” Bueno. So that´s what I’m trying to do :)  At the start of this week I was really sick while we traveled and during the conference, but now I’m fine and my companion has what I had! Ah haha stinking germs! I thought as a missionary we were invincible to those kind of things! haha 

   Oh and one of the best parts of this week ....... WE GOT A WORKING STOVE!!!!! wahoooooo we can actually cook real food now and it´s literally the best thing in the whole world! The first thing I made was mac n’ cheese :) no surprise! Still no hot water, but baby steps. I´m happy :)

INVESTIGATORS

Not much progress because not many lessons this week but we´re knocking a lot of doors and talking to a lot of people in the streets. 

   Jose: Jose is our investigator with depression and a phobia of people and smokes a ton to keep calm. On Tuesday we had a lesson with him about the Word of Wisdom. The spirit was so strong it almost knocked me out of my chair! Jose agreed to to stop drinking coffee on the spot and slowing stop smoking. Right now he´s smoking about 40 cigarettes a day so we made him a fun little calendar to track his progress. It´s going to take a lot of time and a lot of work but I know he can do it! It´s amazing the change he is willing to make for the gospel! He still hasn't attended church but we´ll get there. We gave him the talk by Elder Holland about depression that he gave a couple years ago in General Conference and it really helped him. 

    Jordan y Mary: This family is awesome! They want us in their house 3 times a week! heck ya! But one problem ... Jordan won´t pray with us. He won´t pray in front of anyone! not his wife, not his kids, not us, no one! So we don´t know if he´s actually even praying when he´s alone .. hmmm.  Also apparently my Spanish is the worst of the worst. I thought I was improving and the members and other missionaries say that my Spanish has gotten much better. But after one of our lessons with Jordan and Mary, Mary told me that Jordan can´t understand a word that comes out of my mouth. Not even a basic idea. That means he´s not understanding half of the lesson!! Wow. If that´s not a shot to my confidence I don´t know what is. I know my Spanish isn´t perfect and I have a lot more to learn, but I thought I could at least get the main idea of a lesson across ... 

    Juan: juan juan juan ... he is our investigator that is 57 and won´t get baptized because his mom doesn't´t want him to change. This week was a big week of improvement for him! On Tuesday we had a (whip noise) lesson with him to get him to commit to a date and talk to his family about his love for the gospel. In the lesson he was super iffy about the date and talking to his parents. We were really discouraged and then had to leave the next day for Mendoza. We called him the next night to see how he was doing and to give him a scripture to read and he told us he had a ¨revelation¨. He said the night before he had a dream -  me, crying, and motioning with my hand to come. He woke up the next morning crying and all day at work he was crying. So as soon as we returned we had a lesson with him and gave him a baptismal date in 2 weeks and a calendar to help him prepare. After he receives a blessing from our bishop he is going to talk with his family about getting baptized and share his testimony with them. He´s a lot more happy now that he´s committed to a date! But how amazing is that experience? Every future missionary hears about those stories where a person dreams about them and the next day they knock on their door, or you read a scripture on someones porch and they start crying, and as a future missionary you want one of those experiences! People would always say ¨there´s someone in Argentina that needs your testimony or needs your spirit¨ and usually you just brush it off. But I know, with all my heart and soul that I´m supposed to be here in Argentina. In Mendoza. In Justo Daract. If not for any other person, for Juan. At the end of our last lesson he just expressed his thanks for being here in Justo Daract and helping him come unto Christ. Whether I actually get to see him get baptized or not I know that I helped him find the light of Christ in this crazy confusing world. I am so beyond grateful for the power of the Holy Ghost and the opportunity I have to work hand in hand with Him to help these people! 

FOR YOU FUTURE MISSIONARIES

I´ve been hearing so much about so many mission calls and people on their missions and I love it! You´re all making the best decision of your lives! I´m so pumped for all of you! As you´re all preparing to head out soon, I just wanna share a bit of my 3 months of wisdom. haha 

1. BE HUMBLE

      A mission is the most humbling experience. With a new culture, new language and really having to give your all, it is emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually draining and it sucks. But please oh please oh please DO NOT GIVE UP! The Lord has given you everything! Do not let your pride get the best of you and think that you´re better than a mission. Any thing is possible with the Lord. When you feel like you’re ready to give up, or you think about going home, first - you´re not alone. Every missionary has those same feelings. Turn to the Lord. Don´t blame him. Ask for help and you will receive it! As missionaries we are fulfilling prophecies and saving souls for the eternities, It´s a crazy thing but it´s the biggest blessing! Be humble and give the Lord your ALL! Once you completely give yourself to him, you will receive so much help and so many blessings you don´t even know what to do with yourself.

2. LOVE YOUR COMPANION

        You're not going to get along with all of your companions. it´s life. But love them. You have the same purpose, the same investigators, and study the same scriptures every day. It's not easy. But I promise that if you concentrate on how to help them and how to serve them, your lessons will benefit and TOGETHER you can bring so many people unto Christ! 

FUNNY STORY

So on Monday night I was tired and sick and it was cold and we had been knocking doors for 4 hours and I was ready to drop dead. We came to a door and these 3 dogs poked their heads around the corner of the house and just starred at us. It was like one of those old western movies where a tumble weed rolled in-between us and the weird music. The dogs started growling and barking. The biggest one took one step and Hermana Gonzales and I just took off running! I was running and looking behind me to see if the dogs were following us and I straight up ran into a tree. Ya running as fast as I could, smack dab into a tree. Even better, there were people in the street that watched the whole thing. Yes, I am a representative of Jesus Christ and I just ran full speed into a tree :) welcome to the life of a missionary!

Oh and then on the bus to Mendoza (it´s a 2 story bus) I was walking down the stairs to use the bathroom and fell down the stairs. Ya. I guess this week i just couldn´t control my body. haha

SCRIPTURE

Jacob 4:7 

Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.

Every single person has experiences and times in their lives when they feel completely helpless and alone. In the mission those feelings and experiences are magnified. haha It´s the most amazing thing to see the difference when I humble myself before the Lord and ask for every bit of help. We all have those weaknesses and need help in every aspect of our lives, I promise, with every bit of my body and soul that if you turn to the Lord he will help you with whatever you need! Recognize your weakness and ask for help!

¨Here´s my heart Lord, take and seal it¨ 
-Come Thou Fount (the song)

This is my district eating ice cream and pizza :) Hermana Henrie is holding the camera (she´s my favorite) then it´s Hermana Sangama her companion, my and Hermana Gonzales. The Elders are Elder Puyo from Buenos Aries and Elder Solomon from Hurricane Utah who is in his last transfer

les quiero mucho

hermana smoot