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

Week 12

Tomorrow I hit 3 months. What? How weird! I feel like I´ve been here forever but on the other hand I feel like I´ve been here for a day! Time is the weirdest concept. Especially in the mission!!

ARGENTINA

So the food here is awesome and for 6 solid weeks I haven´t eaten a single weird thing and everything has been way good. But last Monday we went and visited one of our less actives and she pulled out some meat with sauce that you put on bread and eat it. It was super good!! Herman Gonzales was trying to explain to me what it was but I couldn't understand. We ate the whole plate and I loved it. After we left I finally understood. I had just eaten the head of a baby pig. Brian, eyes, tongue and all. ya and I liked it. I realized that as long as you don´t tell me what it is i´ll eat it. I don´t know if that´s a good thing or not but ya. haha That was my fun food for the week!  

  So this week I had a training in Mendoza so we were there for 3 days this week. In the bus terminal Hermana Gonzales and I were just talking and patiently waiting for the bus and this 20 something guy comes and sits next to me with the biggest grin on his face. I was a little creeped out. Then I recognized that he was the guy that helped me get my bag out of the taxi when we arrived at the terminal. He just started rambling off in Spanish about how he´s had dreams where he marries a gringa and they live happily ever after! It took everything I had not to bust up laughing. Immediately Hermana Gonzales pretended that we got a call on our cell phone and that it was for me so I got up and left. hahahaha I was a little flattered but after that we were on the look out until the bus came haha. 

   Oh and on the bus ride to Mendoza the movie Avengers was playing and I just thought of my little cousin Samantha! Ah all my little cousins will be so big when I get back. To all of you little cousins, I love you and you should all go on mission because it´s the best! Draw me a picture or something :) haha

INVESTIGATORS

So since we didn´t have a lot of time in Justo Daract this week there´s not much that happened. We´ve had to drop a lot of people because they won´t follow through with invitations and such. So a lot of searching for new investigators. We were knocking doors and it was cold and raining and this woman invited us into her house. When I say crazy Catholic lady I´m not exaggerating. EVERY INCH of this ladies house was covered in Saints and pictures of Christ and the Pope. On her stove, on the sink, her dogs bed was lined with little dolls that were Saints. I´m pretty sure her toilet was decorated in Saints too! Oh my gosh it was nuts! And she was wearing a necklace with the Pope’s face on it! Wow, ya, She was interesting. She said she was born catholic and was gonna die catholic. Bueno. Good Luck telling that to God on Judgement Day. 

   I´ve mentioned a couple times in my emails this huge group of little kids that we always play with and come to church and stuff. And one of the girls, Nicole, asked when she could be baptized. This week we had our first real lesson with Nicole (11 years old) and her 2 sisters Abigal (11) and Cati (9). They are literally golden! Nicole has already prayed 3 times to know if the church is true and received an answer. They have 1 BOM for the 3 of them and they read it at least once a day! We basically just had 3 baptisms slap us in the face! I´m so excited for them!! Whenever I´m with them and all their little friends they have so much energy! It makes me feel like I´m with my little cousins or the Eyrings or Gilberts! haha I love it! 

  Our investigator family, Jordan y Mary, are really good! We taught the plan of salvation this week and it was really good! But on Saturday morning we went to go visit the family to invite them to church and Mary told us about how every weekend Jordan drinks a lot. When he drinks he´s a different person and she hates it. She´s thinking about divorce and it breaks my heart. Also this week one our of member families separated and I´m watching first hand these families just fall apart. I went home on Saturday and just cried. The gospel helps families in every way. I know that for a fact! When a family is built in the gospel they are stronger. And through the gospel we can live happily with our families for eternity! 

FUNNY STORY

So this is basically just a story about karma. haha  Justo Daract is super small and we see all the same people usually. And there are other missionaries here but for the Jehovah Witnesses church. One day last week Hna Gonzales and I just wanted to know more about what was up with these other missionaries. So we talked to them. Just asked what they believed in, what a mission was for them and that was it. No bible bashing or religion fights, just plain curiosity. Then the next morning at 9:30 in the morning in pouring rain 2 JW missionaries showed up at our door hahahahaha they shared with us a scripture about having a perfect knowledge. We told them we were missionaries as well and shared with them a scripture in 2 Nephi 29 and they left. Then 3 days later another different pair of missionaries showed up at our door! Ah they know where we live and it stinks! haha but it´s totally karma! ugh curiosity! 

SCRIPTURE

2 Nephi 25:17

My favorite part in this scripture is where it says ¨The lord will set his hand again a second time (How awesome is that.) I just finished the book of 2 Nephi and wow. We have one amazing Heavenly Father. Every time we mess up, every time some rejects the gospel, his hand is still extended to them, to help them. I love that! 

¨Reach out and take the Lords helping hand¨ -Elder Rasband

Oh and if you have time go and read the talk ¨We are doing a great work and cannot come down¨ by Elder Uchtdorf in the May 2009 preisthood session. I read that this week and absolutely loved it! 

​les quiero mucho

hermana smoot

 This is me and Hna Gonzales, Hna Holmes (my MTC companion) and her companion all together at the training! I was so excited to see Hna Holmes! I absolutely love that girl :)

This is Cati! The 9 year old that we started teaching this week! She is so spunky!  She said she wants to serve a mission in Utah with me.

Week 11

Yesterday I got to see my family and it was the best!! I wish I could`ve skyped with everyone cause i miss you all! Thank you for all the loving emails and the support! Happy Mothers Day to all you amazing mothers :) I have a lot of amazing influences in my life and I wouldn`t be the same without my amazing family and leaders. I love you all :) 

ARGENTINA

So there`s stray dogs EVERYWHERE and it`s freaking disgusting. I don`t even wanna know what they eat or where they`ve been. But there`s a good 5-6 dogs that live in front of my house. One night this week my companion and i woke up in the middle of the night to literally a dog fight club on our front pourch! The most unnatural sounds i`ve ever heard! It was the scariest thing to wake up to! It happens daily now. It starts with some growling and then a couple barks and then straight up chaos! We have a dog fight club. it`s great. I know it`s illegal in the states but hear it`s normal. I`m gonna start charging people to watch. haha 

I got to speak english this week! It`s a long story how i met this women but her name is Hna Lilliana and she`s learnign english through the BYUI Pathway program. I got so escited cause that`s my school and that`s my language! So on friday i sat down with her for a good 2 hours and helped her with her english. It`s so weird to help someone else learn my language, cause now i know how dumb i sounds haha

INVESTIGATORS

So first we have an investigator named Graciela. She`s about 65 years old, smokes proably 3 packs a day and can`t read. So when we teach her it`s a lot of repeating and relying on the poewr or pray. She`s recieved an answer about Joseph Smith and the Plan of Salvation is true which is aweose! She has a bautsmal date and is doing great. Her dad died this past week and it reallyhelped her to know about the Plan of Salvation. But it`s hard for her to have the desire to go to church. We`ve invited her for 3 weeks to come and we even come by her house to walk with her and she just doesn`t answer the door. It`s really hard because if she can`t read then the only real action she can take to show she`s progressing is to come to church. So we`re going to give her the Word of Wisdom lesson this week and see what happens. But there`s a good chance we might have to drop her.  

    Analia is one of our less actives and her husband Hector is an investigator. He`s the one i talked about last week that talked to his pastor and is a little shaky about meeting with us now. We still go over to teach and share messages but every time we go Hector leaves. Analia is really benefiting from the messages but Hector has started smoking again and is drinking more. It`s really hard for Analia but she won`t go against her husband and come to church. It`s the probalem with âcting on your faith^that a lot of people have. They both have the faith, but they won`t act! It`s the sadest most frusterating thing in the whole wide world! I love these people and I want to help them but they have to have the desire to act! ahhhhh 

   This week was a lot of knocking doors and talking to people in the streets because since we`ve been losing a lot of investigators lately week need new ones. But I counted we knocked doorsfor a total of 19 hours this week and got 5 appointments. Out of those 5 appointments we actually sat down and taught none of them. Not fun at all. 

   On the bright side our investigator Jordan, Mary and their family are good :) we had 2 more lessons with them and Jordan and his son and his wife all have jobs. The power of pray is incredible!!! 

  I`m just hoping this week is better ... 

SCRIPTURE

Alma 58:10-11 (i changed some of the words)

10. Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength that we might retain our investigators and our less actives and our recent converts for the suppport of our people in Argentina. 

11 yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that we would deliver us, yea, insomuch that he did speak peace unto our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hopefor our deliverence in him.

Talk about perfect for my week!! haha I love the scriptures :) 

Ît`s not easy, but it`s possible   -Elder Oaks

Week 10

ARGENTINA:

Good heck this week was food food and more food! These people are the best cooks in the whole wide world and there is no way i´m not coming home fat. Sorry mom. Every day this week we´ve had meals with members or one of our investigators and it´s disrespectful if you don´t lick your plate clean. Literally. Spotless. After every meal I litterally feel like that one girl in the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that blows up like a big blueberry.  Yep. That´s me. Someone send me some good work outs. haha I´m not kidding! It´s crazy because last week we were struggling for food because of issues with our apartment and the money so we didn´t eat much. So in a lot of our prayers we prayed for help with the money and the food and this week our prayers were definitly answered! God cares about the littlest things and it´s stinkin awesome!!!

On Saturday we had a Relief Socitey Activity were we litterally played games and ate food. We have the best members! all 7 of them haha We got some of our inactives to come and also one of our investigators! I was so happy! And the members were so welcoming they felt right at home :) Half of missionary work is the members and I´m so blessed to be working with the best of them! 

INVESTIGATORS: 

Oh my gosh. Who knew I could love these people so much!! It´s all the love of God!! 

First our investigator Juan! This guy is awesome!! He´s in sacrement meeting every week, reads his scriptures and prays every day. Lives the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chasity! Has no problems with anything we say and believes everything! But the problem is ..... his mother. I´m not kidding. This guy just turned 67 this week, has never had a girlfriend, lives on his own, and still looks for his mothers approval for every decision!! Oh my. His mother and sisters don´t want him to get baptized when he is clearly ready. Just a little frusterating. Juan even bore his testimony on Sunday and I balled like a baby!! It was the best day every! We´ve been praying every day for him and his family to understand the importance of it all! The commandments with God and the love we feel from him. 

This week we also contacted one of the persons we talked to on the street. His name is Jordan and he a wife and 2 kids, and is looking for a job. He´s been looking for a job for about 2 months. And at the end of the lesson when we prayed we asked if there was anything we could pray for for him and his family. Jordan asked us to pray that he would find a job, and if he finds a job that he´ll listen to us. We taught them the first lesson and they all felt pretty good about it. We´ve been praying like crazy for him! We went to go talk to him and see how he was doing on Friday and he said he had found a job!!!!! WOW! So we´re going back this week for a second lesson. Talk about tender mercies! 

There is a whole group of little kids that came to church with us last week that wanted to learn more and get baptized. So twice a week we basically have a little primary lesson with all of them. It´s the definition of teaching simply and teaching fast. They have the attention span of a squirrl. In the movie Over the Hedge there´s a squirrl named Hammy. Ya. My lessons are with 6-8 Hammy¨s. It´s the best honestly! haha I love it! 

FUNNY STORY

So this week I had my first exchange. So I was with another Hermana, Hermana Garrido and we were teaching one of her investigators. After the lesson we were just talking and setting up an appointment time and her 3 yr old grandson swings open the back door and it makes this huge noise, so naturally we all look. And in his little Batman sweatshirt and diaper, he´s standing there flipping us off with both hands!!! That was the last thing I was expecting from a 3 year old!! Oh my after in the street Hna Garrido and I were dying! It was hands down the funniest thing of my life!

Also on the exchange on of the other investigators was trying to learn english so she asked me to say the closing prayer in English. FINALLY I get to use me real language. It was the weirdest feeling. For almost 3 months, 5-6 times a day I pray in spanish. I even try to say my personal prayers in spanish so I get used to it faster. It´s not that I forgot the English words it´s that I was so used to the Spanish words. So my prayer went a little like this. ¨Padre Celestial, oh no, Heavenly Father, Gracias por this wonderful dia y por Hna Gomez and her family. Por Favor help us to siempre recordar the expecion in our lives and the amor de Dios. En El nombre, no, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.¨ Wow. I never thought that would happen. 

SCRIPTURE:

1 Nephi 15:8 Have you inquired of the Lord? 

If you ever need help, if you ever need an answer, if you ever need more food, or a little help with ANYTHING inquire of the Lord. He is listening to absolutly every word and he wants to help us! When we Pray when we read the scriptures it is so much easier to feel the love of God in our lives and to recieve that guidance. 

¨Truth is found in simplicity¨ -Elder Waddell  

Les quiero mucho por todos!!!

gracias por todos la oracions y la amor

Hermana Smoot

 Relief society lunch. The best food and the best people!

This is Juan and us at his birthday party 

Week 9

This week has definitly been a little difficult, but it´s crazy because I´m still the happiest I´ve ever been :)

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ARGENTINA:

Every day is basically the same, not much of a difference. But time is flying and I can´t really catch up! I guess that´s a good thing! We finally moved into our new apartment!!! But the downer is that we got cheated out of hot water and gas … again. haha love that! We’re hoping it´ll get fixed this week! This Sunday we had 36 people in our ward!!! WAHOOOOOOO but we also found out some statistics that only 1percent of the members in Justo Daract are active. So as of right now all of our efforts are for those less active members! There´s a whole group of about 10 little kids from ages 8-14 that I just adore! They see us all the time in the streets and give us big hugs! They draw us pictures and play soccer with us. We invited them all to come to church and they did! One of the little girls, Nicole who is 11 years old, asked me for a Book of Mormon after church. She then asked me when she could be baptized. I almost fell over. I was so happy I just hugged her and cried! She probably thought I was a little crazy but it´s not everyday that someone asks that kind of a question. 

Oh and this week I did laundry for the first time in 2 weeks and it was the most disgusting thing. The water afterwards was BLACK. and I mean BLACK. My companion and I were on the ground laughing. I don´t know why we thought it was so funny but it was so disgusting it was funny. 

INVESTIGATORS:

This week was not the best. 2 of our investigators with baptismal dates are second guessing their dates and if they want to be baptized at all. They both love the gospel but Satan has this hold on them and I´m just praying that they can see the light of Christ in their lives!! 

One of our investigators, Juan, has been having a bit of trouble as well with his baptismal date. When we teach him I honestly get a little scared. He´s like a Bible Encyclopedia.  He´ll just recite Bible verses and then a Book of Mormon verse with it like it´s no big deal. I think my investigator knows the BOM better than I do! But this week he shared something with me that really touched me. The first week I was here it was General Conference and then the next sunday in our ward was fast and testimony meeting. In my broken Spanish, I took the opportunity to introduce myself and bare my testimony. Juan said that was the first time the Spirit had hit him so hard that he cried. He said it was an experience he would never forget. Then the next week we had a lesson with him where I wasn´t understanding much and I was struggling to follow the lesson. At the end of the lesson he asked me, not the member present, not my companion, me what chapter in the BOM he should read. Saying a little prayer I said to read 1 Nephi 8,  Lehi´s dream of the tree of life, and while he was reading, ask how he can hold onto the rod in his life. That chapter had answered Juan’s prayer and  was exactly what he needed. It´s crazy how even with the little spanish I know, if you rely on the spirit, you can still touch those around you! 

FUNNY STORY:

So this week, because we moved into our new apartment, we had to go pay a guy for the down payment for the rent. We we´re in the apartment studying and my companion said oh we have to go right now to pay! We don´t need anything we´ll just take a taxi, walk in the door of the building, pay, and take a taxi back. So I didn´t think of it and just walked out the door. As we´re walking around downtown I realized I was wearing flip flops!!!! Oh my gosh my feet are the grossest thing on the planet! I am dead serious. The looks I was getting were hilarious! Wow. ya. not my best moment. I tried to justify it that Jesus wore flip flop like shoes. haha

SCRIPTURE

I don´t have a specific scripture this week. But I did finish the BOM this week. That book is absolutly amazing!!!! If you think about it, for hundreds and hundreds of years prophets wrote their testimonies and the history of their people. Countless times the plates could´ve been stolen or destroyed. People gave their lives for those records. All because we have a loving Heavenly Father that wanted to help us today. To give us guidance, to give us a map in this crazy, always changing world. We really are a choosen people. If you haven´t read the BOM all the way through, please oh PLEASE do so!!! Start with the testimonies and the introduction and read it till the very last amen. And read it with a prayer in your heart. I promise it´s the best thing in the whole world! Reading the BOM as a missionary is a little different. As I read I´m not looking for comfort for myself, I´m looking and searching for scriptures to help and uplift my investigators! The BOM is a miracle and I am so thankful every day that I have the oppurtunity to talk about it all day every day! Wow. How lucky are all of us that have the chance to even read it! Honestly, no words in the spanish or english language, can describe my love for the Book of Mormon. It really is the word of God. The teachings of Jesus Christ. 

¨Be a witness of the gospel and of the Book of Mormon¨ -Elder Stevenson

les quiero mucho!! thank you for all the prayers :)

hermana smoot

 The water after I had washed my clothes!

 This is nicole! The little girl that asked be when she could be baptized :) what a cutie!

 these are some of my favorite little chichos :)

our new apartment is the 2 windows on the top floor :)