September 26: Good and Tired

LIFE

This week we have interviews with Pres. Goates and it went really well. At the end Hna. Goates shared a video about Joseph Smith and it was amazing! Really the sacrifice he went through was unbearable and he was really a man called by God and prepared before this life for his mission here on earth. What an amazing example!

We had an opportunity to do some service this week with the ¨Helping Hands¨ program with the church! We went and painted a hospital and it was so much fun! There were so many people and so many missionaries too :) LOVED IT! Oh and if anyone needs a cheap paint job, hit me up, 261-34-6091 and we can work something out. Call soon because I`m already scheduling for 11 months out ;) ha ha

Another Capilla Abierta!!!! wahoooooo But this one was 2 hours away in car.

 We drove down with some members and we got to drive through the mountains and it was GORGEOUS!!! I thought I loved the mountains before the mission but now, ahhhh! The mountains here are HUGE!!! those mountains in Utah are little babies compared to this bad boys! We even found this amazing lake and stopped to take some pictures. Argentina is so pretty! ah I wouldn`t change missions even if someone paid me! I`m so lucky to be in the prettiest place in the world with the best and kindest people, preaching the restored gospel :) what a blessing!

INVESTIGATORS

First we have Carina and her family. Carina was the one where her father died and she found a number on the Internet of the church and called us! She is progressing so well and we ave a baptismal date for her Oct 8 and we`ve also committed her son and her granddaughter committed to the 15th! ah their a family that is really ready for the gospel! They come to church every week and go to all the activities and are keeping all the commitments! 

We have another investigator that is so special, Elizabeth. She is amazing! her husband is a less active but she reads the book of Mormon every day! They live all the gospel standards and come to church every week. We call her a ¨dry mormon¨ because the only the she`s lacking is getting baptized. The only thing that`s holding her back is that she needs to get married (like half of Argentina and half of our investigators) 

Because we`re coming up on General Conference we`ve been visiting a ton of less actives and inviting literally EVERYONE to come! ah we`ve been running around like chickens with our heads cut off! We are so tired but, we can rest when we`re dead ha ha or once we go home. 

FUNNY

but kinda gross ..... 

We were in the house of a less active having lunch and they had just gotten a new puppy! so we were playing with it and having so much fun! We walked away for 2 seconds to help the hermana get the food ready and the dog pooped! (that`s not the worst part) then the puppy started to eat his poop.  ya my companion ran into the other room gagging! It was hands down one of the grossest things I`ve seen.

SCRIPTURE

Success comes from obedience. 

D&C 82:10 (Grandpa Smoots favorite scripture) 

I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise

1 Nephi 3:7

¡le quiero muchísimo!

Hermana Smoot

Sept 12: I Met a Famous Person!

LIFE

This week we had transfers but the good news is that my companion and I are staying together in our area!!! wahooooo We´re so excited! We have so many big plans for this area :)

My companion Sister Brown and I

This week I met this lady named ¨Selva Vega¨ (google her) she is a sculptor and she has art pieces all over the world! in Europe, America all over south America! ah and her house is a museum! We first just talked to her on the street and she invited us to come back another day and when we walked in it was FILLED with her sculptures and I about fell over. I was so excited! I don´t know if she really wants to know much about the gospel but it´s awesome to say I met her! 

Selva Vega and her home/museum

We also had an opportunity this week to do our ¨Capilla Abierta¨. I explained it last week. It´s basically a big open house in the chapel where anyone and everyone can come and learn about what we do and what we believe in. Not many people came but it was still a success because as long as one person comes, we´re doing our job. We´re bringing in those lost sheep :)

INVESTIGATORS

Francisco: Ah this guy is nuts! His friend gave him a book of Mormon 15 years ago and he´s read the whole thing! We found him because we always buy our fruits and vegetables from him (yes we are eating healthy because we eat to much bad stuff. we´re getting better .... kinda. the food here is really good) anyway -  he always has questions and understands the scriptures so well! We set a baptism date with him and he came to church! wahoooo

Carina: Ya so she is a miracle. It was like the Lord knocked on our door and gave us this investigator on a platter. This woman went online and found the phone number to missionaries in our area and called them and asked us to come to her house. WHAT? okay great :) Her dad was a bishop in Utah for a long time but recently died. Her last conversation with her father was in the front of our chapel and he talked about how much he loved the church and wanted her to feel the happiness he has felt. ya so she has a baptism date too and she assisted church and loves all of the sisters! MIRACLES ARE THE COOLEST THING EVER!

SCRIPTURE

DyC 24:7-8

For thou shalt devote all thy service in Zion; and in this thou shalt have strength. Be patient in afflictions for thou shalt have many; but endure them for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days

WHAT A PROMISE!!!

with lots and lots and lots of love

Hermana Smoot

The closet thing to an American Burger

The view from my apartment in Mendoza

September 5 : Cockroaches and cold weather

MI VIDA

This week we had Zone Conference which was so much fun! Because our zone is so small we had the conference with 2 other zone. There was about 70 elders and 4 hermanas hahaha but it really was an amazing conference, I learned a lot and there`s a lot of things that Hna Brown and I have already started applying in our teaching and it`s helped so much! I LOVE INSPIRED LEADERS!!! 

We did a service project this week with the Supulvera family (who are our favorites) and afterward we made asado. You people don`t understand how good this meat is. I promise you that in the Celestial Kingdom they eat asado. Without a doubt. And Hna Brown and I cooked it ourselves :) you could say we`re pretty experienced haha. 

There is a new program that is touring around South America called ¨Capilla Abierta¨ it`s like an open house in the church run by the missionaries and the members to let people in their area know more about the church and what we believe in. Right now the Supulvera family (the ones we did service for that are our favorites) are in charge of all of the ¨Capilla Abiertas¨ in 2 provinces so it`s a lot of work. They`re doing lots of trainings right now. This past week they asked us to come help them with one of the trainings and it was amazing! I am beyond excited for this program!

On the left is Elder and Hermana Norton. They are in charge of all the ¨Capilla Abiertas¨ in South and Central America. On the left is the Supulveras :) my favorites!    

INVESTIGATORS

This week it has been freezing!!! I don`t know why but it stinks. Yesterday we we`re knocking doors all day long. It was a little miserable. But it`s kinda funny to hear the excuses people will give you because they don`t want to listen. One lady said ¨It`s cold so i can`t listen to you¨ and then slammed the door in our faces. I was just in awe about how stupid her excuse was. haha since when does the temperature outside effect your hearing???

We had a random family show up in our ward yesterday that weren`t members!! The dad had listened to the missionaries before but didn`t get baptized but remembered where the church was. ahhhhh how cool is that! We`re pretty excited to teach them :)

It`s amazing how some people live here. We visited a new investigator Cristina. She has a lot of health problems and has a special needs daughter. When we walked into her house to share a lesson with her, she was getting her daughter ready for school so we offered to do some cleaning. We walked into the kitchen and there were cockroaches EVERYWHERE. There were things rotting and other gross things that I can`t even describe. My heart just broke. I felt so bad. But she loved the lesson and was really excited that we gave her a Book of Mormon! We want to do a service project with her and get the youth to just come and do a deep clean for her one Saturday. Ah but she`s awesome! i`m really excited to keep teaching her.

SCRIPTURE

D&C 112:10

Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers

with all the love in my heart

con todo el amor en mi corazon

Hermana Smoot

This is the ¨San Luis crew¨haha 2 transfers ago we were all in the same zone and now were all together again in Mendoza!! haha Elder Ponte from Peru, Hna Brown, Me, Elder Molis, and Elder Bravo