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