Week 8

HOLA MIS AMIGOS!! guys time flies out here! it´s crazy! I hit 2 months on sunday!

ARGENTINA

There are things I learn here everyday that I would never learn in the US.

 1.  It doesn´t matter if you listening to music in another language and can´t understand it. It´s got a good beat and that´s all that counts! right? My neighbors LOVE  21 Pilots.  I asked them if they understand the music and they said no! haha love that! And surprisingly people down here love those ¨big hair bands¨ from the 80´s! I´m constantly hearing Bon Jovi, Journey, Van Halen, Aero Smith daily! haha Livin on a prayer, Eye of the Tiger. The best was half way through a tough day when no one had been listening to us and we were really discouraged, a car drove by playing ¨Highway to Hell” and I just started laughing! how perfect!

Okay ever since I got my call to Argentina I´ve just wanted to play soccer with the natives, and last pday that dream came true!! This little 9yr old kid was totally schooling me but i loved every minute of it! I feel like a true gringa now :) haha 

There were some problems with our new apartment so long story short right now were living out of our suitcase with mattress on the floor for a week. It’s an adventure. Oh and for 3 days all of Justo Daract didn´t have running water. I love my mission :)

It literally rains here every other day. I would be mad about it but I have rain boots and they make everything fun!  We were knocking doors and a little boy asked me what my shoes were, and I explained that they were so my feet wouldn’t get cold and wet in the rain. I let him try them on and he was running around in the puddles. Oh my gosh I just about died of cuteness!! 

Okay the animals here are almost as disgusting as the men! The dogs. Their not really dogs. Their like massive rats. I can´t even begin to explain haha and they´re EVERYWHERE! sooo they poop everywhere!  Also there are horses that just walk around the streets. I don´t know why, and you never know who they belong to, they´re just there. It´s great. One day I´m gonna ride one down the streets throwing pamphlets to all the people. Ya picture that. Put that on lds.org haha

INVESTIGATORS

Right now we have 4 people with baptismal dates!!! Wahoooooo but with statistics that means only one will really get baptized. I take that as a challange. One of our investigators with a date, his name is Juan, is having a really hard time. He knows it’s all true but he´s getting a lot of push back from his family. I can´t even imagine the pressure! 

No one here keeps appointments and it is so frustrating! Even if we call the night before and then just a couple hours before to confirm, they won´t be there. Ya know what, it´s fine. It´s just their salvation at stake. Alma 26:27-30

We had an experience this week where we didn´t know where to knock doors so I said a prayer and then picked a road on the map. We talked to lady on that road that didn´t even believe in God. We gave her a book of mormon and bore our testimonies. She didn´t invite us back but I really do think that we were meant to talk to her. It breaks my heart every time we talk to someone that doesn´t even have a little spark of light in their lives. 

PEOPLE

My companion is great. Still those differences and the language barrier but it doesn´t stop us from preaching the gospel and helping others come unto Christ! Both of us just do the little things to show our love! :) good stuff. The 15 members here are literally AWESOME!! Always helping us with lessons and making us food! I couldn’t ask for a better area! The men here are so stinkin’ gross! Everyone in Justo Daract knows me. Whenever we are walking past a group of men they say ¨Hermana Gringa¨ and then some random stuff in Spanish that I´m really glad I don´t understand. Sometimes I wanna turn around and slap them with the Hand of God (the Book of Mormon). haha but that´s not Christ like. 

LANGUAGE

Well I think I´ve improved at least a little bit! But when I get the courage to actually talk to people and then they have this really confused look and then ask my companion what I said. It kinda shoots my confidence right down the drain. haha There´s more work to be done in that department.

FUNNY STORIES AND THOUGHTS

1 So a couple weeks ago we were talking to people on the street and we set a time to visit a young man and his family. His name is Gustavo. We found out it´s just him living with his father and so we have to have a member women come with us to the lessons. We have yet to teach him a lesson but we see him all the time in the streets and we´re always friendly and say hola! A couple days ago he rode past us on a bike and we said hola and kept walking. I looked back at him and he blew me a kiss. I was litterally on the ground laughing!!! We are never teaching Gustavo hahahahaha  We will leave that to the members.

2 We walked out of our apartment to go to a lesson and there were 2 men talking to our neighbors. While listening a little bit to their conversation as we walked by, we understood that they were missionaries from the Jahovahs Witnesses. We want them to get ¨Apostasy¨ tattooed on their foreheads. 

3  Knocking doors as usual and we came accross a women that was VERY catholic. We invited her to read a pamphlet on the Restoration and to pray if our church was true. She then gave us a pamphlet about the Catholic church and asked us to pray if the catholic church was true. I couldn´t believe what was happening. My mouth was on the ground and i just walked away! haha are you kidding me?????

SCRIPTURE

I have two this week :) 

Alma 26:15

3 Nephi 21:26-29 ¨let the work begin¨!!

Conference was amazing a couple weeks ago and I wrote down so many good quotes! So I´m going to share 1 every week 

¨If your faith isn´t effecting your daily decisions, you´re living in vain¨ -President Uchtdorf

Oh and I´m doing a little experiment. If you have time please send me you´re 2-3 favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon :) gracias!

les quiero mucho!!!

hermana smoot

The first picture of me and my Peruvian companion! 

this is one of the dogs that I'm pretty sure carries every disease possible

One of the random horses that wanders the street! 

Week 7

I´m so sorry about my email last week! We were in a different area for the weekend for conference, and with all the traveling and shoopping we only emailed for a little bit.!

TRAVEL

Going from the US to Argentina wasn{t really that bad, just long. When we got off the tracks at the Salt Lake Airport my suitcase brok. Wahooo so much fun haha we delt with it so we{re fine :) We went from Salt Lake to Atlanta Georgia to Buenos Aries. We drove to another airport and then got on another 3 hr plane ride to Mendoza. My are, Justo Daract, was then another 6 hours away on bus. It{s the farthest area form the mission home. We{re right on the Mendoza mission/Cordaba mission boarder.

   This week alone we{ve done a lot of traveling. Took a bus to an area an ahour away to watch conference for the weekend with our district, the drove back Monday. Then wne tback on tuesday for the distrcit meeting. Then again on wednesday for interviews with the president. The 2hrs away on fridays for a zone conference. Gotta love those buses! haha

PEOPLE:

First my mission president and wife. LOVE THEM! They are so sweet! and in my interview with him this week he was so comforting with all the struggles i was having! I am honestly so lucky! My companion, Hna. Gonzales is a cute little native from Peru with 10 months under her belt. She{s 26years old and a convert. She{s so loving and helps me a lot with my spanish. I{m really excited to be having a native because i need it for my spanish. But it also makes it very frusterating. We can{t communicate very well which makes planning lessons and our days really hard. I can understand a lot more spanish than i can speak.. Pero esta bien. cause that{s why we have the Lord. As long as we try our best, he{ll do the rest. DyC 58:26-28

   The other Hermanas here are awesome! Last weekend we stayed with the other hermanas in our district, Hna Avalos & Hna Henrie. Hna Henrie is from Virginia and i absolutly love her!!! We get along really well. We{re crossing our fingers that we get to be compaions haha:) One of the other hermanas i was traveling with said she followed me on instagram and then started discribing my life!! haha she{s from Buenos Aries! How funny is that?

   The people here are fantastice!! they give everything to the church! they mostly have dirst floors and roting teether and the clothes on their backs but they{re childern of God and i absolutly love all of them!! In our zone there{s an Elder that went to bountiful. his name is Elder Bleak!! he{s awesome!! we talked about home for a good 20 mins haha 

ARGENTINA

Wow. Argentina. It{s crazy that I´m actually here. During conference I was thinking that exactly 6 months ago I opened my call! It´s crazy but I am SO happy :) okay the food here is AMAZING! you can order 2 steaks for $5. ya you guys can keep you´re little ceasers pizza cause this stuff is fantastic! At home I was an avid Dr. Pepper fan, but ..... there is something mgaic in the Coke down here! We have Coke & Mate for every meal. (I think I´m turning into Aunt Heather) haha Mate. It´s like a teas drink, but not. Everyone down here drinks it! And I mean everyone. Everytime we walk into a house they give us mate & bread. The first time I had it, it tasted like dirst. Straight up dirt. Smells like it too. The more I have it the more I get used to it and like it. You just gotta know how to make it right!

   Now to what my mom really wants to know about, my apartment. It´s gross. not heating, no gas, no hot water. During rainstoms (which happens at least every other day) the water leaks through all our windows and door. Lots of bugs, and it smells weird. But it´s my gorss dirt, really small, weird smelling house and i like it :) Since it´s supposed to be an Elders apartment (usually sisters get nicer apartments) we are moving this wednesday haha

    I´ve gotten really good at killing bugs. I think I´m going to drop out of school and become an exterminator. 

   People here drive just like me and I love it!! haha

   We have a ward of 15 people. That{s including our investigator and us. There´s a lot of work to be done here haha. 

  In the middle of the day here everything shuts down from 1-4 in the afternoon and everyone goes home and sleeps and eats. It´s called la siesta. What the heck america? Why don´t we have that??

LANGUAGE

espanol ..... wow. Its hard and frusterating but it´s do-able. Everyday I see the Lord helping me remember words, say correct phrases and pronounce words correctly. When you give your all to the Lord, it{s amazing what he will do for you. Having a native compaion definitly helps! There´s been a lot of tears and sleepless nights with this language. But i´ve realized it´s really helping me. Before my mission I could talk for hours and hours about the gospel, but now in a language I don´t know very well, I´m forced to teach the most important docterine and teach it simply. It not only helps me but it helps our investigators. Someone told me that as long as you can pray and testify, you´re good. Alma 37:6-7

INVESTIGATORS

No one has been serving in this area for a good 2 transfers. So coming here was basically starting over. It{s been a lot of door knocking and street contacting. This past saturday all of our lessons fell through and no one let us in to teach. You´ll have days like that and then days where everything goes perfectly and your investigators are doing what theyre supposed to and it´s awesome! We have 3 investigators with baptismal dates and I´m so excited to see how that all turn out :) 

SCRIPTURE

As a missionary and as a child of God I am the potters clay. I am being formed. Pushed, twisted, pulled and stretched in every direction. Being put into poitions in which I´m not comforable. But I know the potter see´s my potential. He knows what I can do. It´s hard and uncomfortable but the Potter knows what´s best. 

DyC 122:7-9

Thank you for all the prayers!! love you all 

les quiero mucho :)

hermana smoot

Kylie's first solo contact 

I'm loving my rain boots!

Week 6 (Kylie's first week in Argentina)

There´s no way this is real! In one week there has been so much change my head is spinning!! I don´t have much time so i´m gonna make this short and fast! But i love argentina and the people!!

there´s lots of trials and lotsof frustration! the language is hard and i have a native companion so i´m learning lots :)

my scripture this week is Helaman 10:4-5

I really am sorry it is so short! i love you all and i can feel your prayers!

les quiero mucho 

hermana smoot

Week 5!

Hola mis amigos!

Thank you so much for all of the letters this week :) I'm leaving on Monday morning and heading out to Argentina and I am sooooooo excited!! 

PEOPLE

and we're all alone. In our hallway there are 6 classrooms and we are the only class in our hallways!! our Branch presidency told us about how this is always the slow season. During the semesters is always hard to get kids here. But as soon as all those high school graduates finish school there are so many people here. Speaking of congrats to all of you at home getting your calls!! That's so much fun! Best decision you'll ever make :) i promise! So we had 20 of our really close friends leave this week and it was not fun. It stinks cause we all got really close. But they're gone for the best reason possible! They're out serving the Lord and I couldn't be more happy about it. They're going to be so amazing!

This week we also had a birthday! Elder Hoagland turned 26! In the picture below he is the one in the middle with the glasses :) lots and lots of fun

ESPANOL y CLASE

A week from now I'm gonna be in Argentina trying to understand spanish and I'm a little freaked out. Like I say every week, the spanish is improving but there's a lot more to learn. I know I've come really far since I've been here but to think I'm going to be completely immersed in the language within a couple days is nuts.

INVESTIGATORS

This week we had our last lessons with our investigators and it was so sad to have to say bye! It was not fun at all. Although I know that they're all members, you develop this Christ like love for them and you just want them to come closer to Christ no matter what it takes! The hardest goodbye was definitely Hely y Jose. (there's a picture at the bottom) They got our emails and took a picture with us and said we we're some of the best teachers they had had. They are the cutest funniest little couple! Just yesterday we saw Jose walking around campus so we talked to him for a little bit. He then told us about how he hasn't had milk in 15 years. He whips our this book on milk and shows us a list of all these diseases that we can get from milk and lectures us on drinking milk. haha I love him! 

RANDOM STUFF OF THE WEEK

One of my buddies here got a package this week with a 12 pack of dr. pepper and I literally sacrificed my life for him to give me one!!! haha It was the best thing I've had these past 6 weeks! If you ask my companion I was almost crying when I had it! That was my happy moment of the week haha

My district is crazy talented! We're always messing around singing and dancing just as a joke but lately we'll go to one of the pianos and we'll play and sing hymns and arrangements and it's the funnest thing! 

We got our travel plans on friday and we were literally skipping and dancing all over campus! It's crazy! Our whole district is going to be flying together! On monday we fly from Salt Lake to Atlanta, Georgia, and then straight to Buenos Aries. From there the Mendoza crew will take a 10 hour bus ride on dirt roads all the way to Mendoza :) it'll be an adventure!! 

PREPPING FOR EASTER

All you hear about at the MTC is how much fun it is to be here on holidays cause that's when the apostles come to speak. And I'm so lucky that my last sunday here gets to be Easter Sunday! Wahoooooo So this week I've been thinking about what the Savior did during the last week of his life. The Sunday before he was crucified, he arrived in Jerusalem on a little white donkey as the people wave palm leaves and shout "Hosanna! Hosanna!" Sound familiar to what we all did this past Sunday? The Provo Temple Dedication was broadcasted to the MTC and we all got to attend. It was amazing to watch all the missionaries and our branch presidencies stand and shout "Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! To God and the Lamb!" 3,000 people shouting all together praises to our Lord. On Palms Sunday we were waving our palms in the air shouting praises that our Lord rose on the 3rd day, and restored his gospel to the earth with priesthood power to make sacred covenants in the temple for time and all eternity. Then on Tuesday while we sat in devotional I thought of Christ having dinner with Mary Magdaline and Lazerus, who he raised from the dead, knowing it would be his last meal with them. I hope all of us this week are spiritually preparing ourselves just as Christ did the week before he took on all the sins of the world. 

SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK

Philippians 1:20-21

This scripture is amazing!!! In these verses it basically tells us that we have no excuse to not be fully devoted to the gospel. When everything we have in our lives is because of the blessings we receive from him, the first thing we should be doing every day is giving thanks. When a sister in my zone read this in our relief society she said "We have no excuse to do anything but giving this mission our all" On this mission I will testify of Christ ALWAYS. Through my words, through my actions, by setting and example to those around me, and through my countenance. Because like it says in v20 "that in nothing I shall be ashamed" Everyday I will live as the Lord would have me live. Working my hardest and inviting the whole world to come unto Christ. Because I have no excuse to not do just that. "so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." I give my all to my Savior Jesus Christ because I know that this gospel is true and I know with my whole body and soul that he died and suffer for my sins. And on the 3rd day he rose so that we may live with our loving Father in Heaven again. All out of pure love for his children, our God has a plan of happiness, specific for each of us, and  if we give our all to him, with no excuses, we will receive those eternal blessings. 

les quiero mucho 

hermana smoot

 This is Hely and Jose! 

 The day we got our travel plans!

 Last zone picture with my favorite people. 

Happy 26th birthday to Elder Hoagland

Week 4

Days are literally flying by! I feel like yesterday I was giving my farewell talk and I blinked and now I'm 12 days away for  leaving to Argentina! Crazy stuff. crazy. We even get our travel plans on friday :) wahooooooooo It's crazy because the days themselves go by super slow but the weeks go by super fast. Last night a member of our Branch presidency told me something that I think is gonna become my new motto

    "THE BEST WAY TO KILL TIME IS TO WORK IT TO DEATH"

I love that! Everyone talks about how fast the mission goes and the only way to get the most out of it is to really "work it to death".

P.E.O.P.L.E.

This week people have been coming and going. And as Hermana Holmes would say "they're dropping like flies" Last wednesday we had a sister in our zone go home because she has to get surgery. That same day we had an Elder dislocate his finger and go to the hospital, Hermana Mann has a cyst in her wrist, an Elder in my district, Elder Richey, is on crutches because he sprained his ankle playing basketball, and we're all getting fat because the food here is terrible and all you can eat.  

A friend from high school, Sister Jackie Smith got here this week and is going to Guam! She's leaving the same day I am!

And sadly today Hermana Eyring had to go home because of more health issues. :( My prayers are with her and her family! 

So in our zone we have 3 districts. Mine and 2 others. The other 2 districts both got here on the same day. So they're all leaving us on Tuesday and then we'll be all alone :( I love my zone and I'm so sad to see them all leave but they're all gonna be amazing missionaries!! 

ESPANOL y CLASE

always progressing. slowly but surely I'm gettin there. Gotta be diligent and hard working to get stuff done. I'm no where near fluent and I'm honestly so scared to have to leave here in 12 days cause I can't have a normal conversation with people in spanish! It's gonna require lots of prayers and probably a lot more fasting. But I actually had a really cool experience with my spanish this week! I've been praying more than I ever have in my whole life since I've been out here and they're a lot most sincere too. And of course since I'm learning a language the biggest thing I pray for is the gift of tongues and to be able to understand. In a lesson we had this week with one of our "investigators" i understood EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. How?? In the middle of the lesson I just started crying. I was so excited that I could understand and then I could answer the questions she had accordingly. I know I say this every week but the gift of tongues is real. Without a doubt. There is no way a bunch of teenagers could learn a language in 6-9 weeks without it. The Lord prophesied that every man will hear the gospel in his native tongue, and this is his way of fulfilling that prophesy and I am so blessed to be just a little part of that! D&C 90:11

In our class this week we've really been concentrating on the fundamentals. Making sure we're teaching the doctrine of Christ and stuff that you don't really need to know before a baptism. Making sure we have a Christ like love for our investigators, that we're constantly serving, and doing our personal study so we are spiritually prepared we are able to truely connect with people. In our church there are so many people that get hung up on the questions and the wonders of the gospel and they lose sight of what makes this gospel so amazing. The fundamentals. The fact that God has a Plan for each and every one of us so that we can come back and live with him. That our older brother and Savior, Jesus Christ died and suffered for our sins in Gethsemane and on Calvery. And that through the atonement we are able to be clean and perfected through him as we repent and thoughtfully take the sacrament every week. The beauty of temple and the real blessings they are and the power we have of the priesthood to bind together families for time and all eternity. When people lose sight of these fundamentals, they lose sight of the true meaning of the gospel. 

INVESTIGATORS

So let me just clarify. I do not have real investigators. They are practice investigators that are hired by the MTC so we can practice teaching in our new language.

but the best lesson we had this week was the same lesson where I magically understood everything! It was with our investigator named Hely. She's in her 60's and is just the cutest old lady. As we've been talking about fundamentals this week my companion and I have tried to truely develop a Christ-like-love for each of our investigators! To really see them as their Heavenly Father sees them. During our lesson with Hely this week I saw her just as Christ would. I imagined her in temple clothes, and with a calling in the church and I just want to help her come unto Christ so bad! 

I think that's the goal. To see people without all the worldly stuff distracting us! To see and love everyone as our Heavenly Father would. 

SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK 

This week in my studies I read in 3 Nephi 10-11. Chapter 10 is right before Christ comes to the people in America and in ch 11 it is when Christ comes. They're my new favorite chapters! When you wanna talk fundamentals, read these chapters. and all of 3 Nephi! So in chapter 10 all of the people that have survived all of the disasters are sitting in darkness crying and confused. The voice of the Lord comes out of the darkness and says "How oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings"  My mom and my grandma both have paintings of a hen gathering her chicks just as depicted in this verse and I love it! Cause really when does Christ gather us together? not just General Conference, but really gather us all together, when he comes and testifies himself. While reading that I just started thinking of when that will happen again. Whether I am here on earth or in the concourses of angles that descend with him. That day will be amazing! Then if you continue in ch 11:3 it describes the Lords voice. absolutely amazing. Then thinking of that voice as he testifies of himself in v 10-11 "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testifies shall come into the world."  "Behold I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning." As Christ comes down the first thing he talks about is the Atonement, then in v23 he give the power to baptize. The first 2 things he talks about is exactly what missionary work is!!

Testifying of the atonement and baptizing people. Teaching repentance, baptizing converts. 

Thank you for all the love and the prayers :)

les quiero 

hermana smoot

This is my zone! 

This is the Davis County Crew :) Hermana Holmes (Clearfield) Me (WX) Elder Keller (Davis) Elder Quist (Layton)

This is Hermana Klopffer! She's a doll and I love her so much! 

Me, Hermana Eyring and all of our companions! I'm gonna miss her!

Little things make a BIG difference (Week 3)

amigos i'm half way done with the MTC! crazy! In 3 weeks I'll be walking around the streets of Argentina! I couldn't not be more excited, scared, overwhelmed, blessed, to go! Over all this week has been really good. Always progressing, always busy. pero, esta bien :)

THE PEOPLE- 

I love making friends and the MTC is just the place to do it! There's this cute girl that lives down the hall from me, her name is Sister Sorensen and she's speaking Mandrin Chinese going to Leeds, England (same mission as Liza Pugsley) and she's is the cutest thing! We're twins! We have the same pj's a ton of the same clothes, dress the same and we both have short brown hair and glasses that look the same! She's a doll and I love her! I'll attach a picture below :)

Hermana Eyring has been here for awhile but we finally got a picture together and I'm so happy about it :) I love that girl! My Branch President is her doctor so she even came to my ward for fast Sunday! It's like a little slice of home whenever I see her!

For the past 2 weeks we've had 2 other sister missionaries living in our room with us because they're english speaking so they weren't here for very long. They left on Tuesday morning both going to Baltimore Maryland! They're both so sweet and I have no doubt they'll touch countless hearts out there :) 

CLASE y ESPANOL-

There's always something to be learning! Spanish is getting better but obviously not as fast as id like it to, pero esta bien porque (but its okay because) I'm on the lords time. Learning a language is really a process for me. Lots of hard work and lots of studying (i usually don't study so it's VERY different for me) and just the constant trying to think of words in spanish and understand what's going on haha With the lords help anything is possible :) & I have a strong testimony of that! If you go to the Lord with a humble heart and pray and ask him with real intent, I KNOW the Lord will answer your prayers. Maybe not in the way you like or when you want it. But he will answer. 

OUR ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK-

Adventure #1: our new calling

       So this week Hermana Holmes and I got a calling! You're looking at the new Zone Sister Training Leaders :) So we're basically in charge of all the sisters in our zone and we go this calling 2 weeks in haha We're super excited though! Couldn't ask for a better calling! Oh and my mom would be proud to hear that I accompanied in sacrament meeting on sunday. Yes mom I am using my talents. 

Adventure #2: beyond the walls of the MTC

        Earlier this week Hermana Holmes eye was kinda bugging her, so she made an appointment with the doctor here at the MTC. I had a white thing on my eye that was getting bigger and I was like, what the heck might as well get it checked out so it doesn't become a problem. It didn't hurt or bother me, I was just curious. So we both went to the doctor on Monday. Dr. Brown here at the MTC had no idea what to do with my eye and so he sent me to go to a specialist of campus. *duh duh duuuuuuuuh* So Tuesday afternoon we ventured to a place where no other missionary had gone, beyond the fence *duh duh duuuuuuuuh* (not really. people leave all the time) The eye doctor told me that I had a little cyst on my bottom eye lid and decided to take care of it right there. He popped some numbing drops in my eye and went to work with a microscope looking thing and a needle and went to town. It's hard to explain but there was a mirror and so i was watching the whole thing! lots of poking and cutting and blood. IN MY EYE! the cyst was so big he had to cut around it and pull it out with little tweezers. And all for only $10 :) what a great adventure for a tuesday afternoon! I'm fine now! No harm, no foul. I'm just glad we took care of it here than having some old Argentinian man take a razor to my face. After getting our prescriptions from the pharmacy we decided to walk home. And I ran into a friend on our way back! Gabbey Beard! We ran track together and were officers together my senior year! she was on a run and she saw me right outside of the MTC! It was crazy seeing her but I loved it!

INVESTIGATORS-

Last Thursday my companion and I fasted, for both our language and personal reasons. On that same day we taught all 3 of our "investigators" and every lesson was crazy good! Like I said last week in my email, if the missionaries do their preparation and the investigator is willing to work, the language will not be a barrier! Each of our investigators are progressing! And even though their not really looking to be baptized we're bringing them closer to Christ! That's our purpose as missionaries! Everyone can come unto Christ a little more, and that's why we're here. 

SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK: 

Alma 11:40

And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to non else. 

Jesus Christ and the Atonement are key to the Plan of Salvation, and without him and his sacrifice there would be no "families are forever" or "everlasting life". To Jesus Christ we owe EVERYTHING. Just like that first sentence says,"come into the world to redeem his people" but in the next sentence it says that he will take on our transgressions "of those who believe on his name" To have the Atonement applied to us, we must truely believe in what the gospel is and what it teaches us. Not only believing but acting on our beliefs. Faith and Belief to me aren't nouns, they're verbs. So act on what you have faith in. Act in what you believe. 

This week something I realized was that the little things make the BIG difference. You first have to do the little things. Every little pray, every little fast, every little positive thought goes a long way. Hermana Holmes and I have started a thing where we write a nice note to people in our district and/or zone and hide it in their stuff and they randomly stumble upon one day. Some people have found our notes and said that they found it right after they had a bad lesson, or when they we're having doubts about their spanish. It's just those little things that really help! Next you have to recognize the little things. Every little blessing. Every email I get or every dearelder i get during the week makes my day and it's just that little effort that people put in. Recognize that I learned a couple new spanish words today! And although that's not much, it's me improving, and that's a blessing. The Lord gives us these little tender moments to show us that he's there for us and he loves us. 

I know that Jesus Christ lives and he is our Savior. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that prayer is a way for us to communicate with our Heavenly Father who loves us. I can testify to all of you that this is the true church. And this is the only church on the Earth that has the fullness of the gospel. That Joseph Smith restored this gospel with the power and authority and the help of our Heavenly Father. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a living prophet and is the mouth piece of the Lord and the Lord works through him. I know that this mission is exactly where I need to be. I have already met some of the most amazing people and I know that in Argentina there are people waiting for me and my testimony and I could not be more excited to go find them! I love my Heavenly Father and my older brother and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Les queiro mucho! 

Hermana Smoot

This is Sister Hartel! She went to WX and is the sweetest girl in the world! She left on Tuesday morning for Baltimore, Maryland

This is Hermana Eyring! We finally got a picture together!! :)

This is my twin Sister Sorensen! I love her

​The 2 in the middle were our roommates for 2 weeks! The little blonde one is Sister Marshell and the african american one is Sister Souba. They're both going to Baltimore! They left on Tuesday :(

​I just had to take a picture with Gabbey :) I was so excited to see a friend! What a coincidence!

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This week we all got matching shirts with our missions on them. And Hermana Lloyds family sent mustaches. A photo shoot was a must at this point.

Semana Numero 2

So the days are just blurring together at this point and I really couldn't tell you about much that we did, cause we do the same thing every day! haha But this week flew by!! At this pace I'll be home in no time :)

THE PEOPLE:

I'm am seeing more and more people I know here everyday and it's nuts! Sister Holly Hartel that went to my high school moved in last week to the room 2 doors down and her companion is a girl that sat next to me in one of my classes at BYUI! What a small world! 

Oh and I've heard about some mission calls that people have gotten!! Congrats to Carolyn Hammon who's going to Tailand Bangkok! Hunter Smith going to South Africa! Keith Saylin who got called to Micronesia Guam!! Ah that's awesome! you guys will love it! Best decision ever to serve a mission :)

SPANISH:

Guys I promise you that the gift of tongues is real! If you as a missionary prepare to the best of your ability your lesson and your spanish and the spirit is present and your investigator is willing to do the work and learn, the language will not be a barrier. I'm still struggling and its frustrating because I'm a slow learner, and I'm constantly comparing myself to the other missionaries, but with the Lords help, ANYTHING is possible. 

DEVOTIONAL:

Both of the devotionals were amazing this week! on Sunday we had Elder Stephen Allen speak. He's the managing director of the missionary department and his emphasis was "Teach repentance, baptize converts". LOVE THAT! Then every sunday night they have re plays of talks given either at the mtc or general conference. If you can I 100% suggest watching Elder David A Bedner "Character of Christ" and/or Elder Jeffery R Holland "Missions are Forever". They are both very powerful and moving talks that I absolutely loved! On Tuesday nights devotional we had Elder Brent H. Neilsen of the 70 and his wife talk to us! They both had a common thread that really stuck out to me. Don't be lazy. I'm here on the Lords time, being HIS hands, talking to HIS children, bringing them unto HIM. Sister Neilsen shared a story about her running a marathon and said that she told herself she was never going to walk. That's what we should be doing as missionaries. Always running!!

INVESTIGATOR:

Our investigator Sandra committed to be baptized!! woooo But this week we got 3 new investigators! All so very different and have different needs but all children of god that wanna come closer to christ! Something Hermana Holmes (my companion) and I are working on is truly figure out what our investigators need and how we can help them. In our purpose as missionaries it say "Our purpose is to INVITE other to come unto Christ by HELPING them receive the restored gospel" We're always inviting them to do something but if we're not in tune with the spirit, then how are we supposed to help them. 

SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK: 

I've been studying the New Testament and as I was reading in Matthew about the life of Christ. And it comes to a time when Jesus is sending his apostles to different cities to preach the gospel and this is what he says to them before they leave 10:16-20,22  It kinda shows us missionaries a preview of the reality that we're getting ourselves into. BUT if you go on and read in vs 19-20 it says "take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak 20 for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you" As missionaries called of God I love reading scriptures like that. 

Thank you all for the kind letters and packages :) I'm praying for you all at home!

Les Queiro

Hermana Smoot