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