Wk 60 - what a week

Area: Parnaíba
Companion: Elder Arrant

119 degrees!!?!

Man the weeks are going pretty fast here.... its speeding up every week.

this week was a good week. as always, tuesday we had district
meeting..... and you say you have a routine!!! Just messin. but its
true... there isnt a whole lot that changes for us. We visited Maria
de Jesus, the deaf lady, and so we have to teach her on a peice of
paper. She gave us some mango juice. Then we went to a recent converts
house, Chagas, and he gave us cevada and cuscuz de arroz and that was
ok... i hated that stuff at first but now its good. We visited
alesandra, who is a random girl we teach... she has a boyfriend that
lives with her, she´s about 20ish and is very pregnant. And we went to
get Vitor to teach with us, he gave us these pancakes that are full of
meat and stuff, then to Prado´s who gave us more juice. It was a great
day, but on top of that a member gave us hamburgers on our way home. i
was stuffed!!! but it was awesome. better than being hungry.

Wednesday we had a very far lunch... that is one thing that is hard is
that the area is divided so we have to walk really far somedays. But
after that we went and helped a member with his english homework....
it was pretty dumb homework. Then we went to visit felipe, the kid i
baptized, and he promised me that this week he would go to church.
Then we did a little split and i went with Elder Larsen to introduce
him to Ciro and Vanessa and that went well. They are a cool fam...
just that they need to get married. And that night we got in the house
and started playing baseball... one person on one end of the house and
throw a little ball and hit it with a cut off broom stick... man i
miss good sports.

Thursday we went in the morning to teach Teresa Cristina. She is an
elect investigator. just understood everything and is an awesome
person. We taught about the book of mormon. After, she invited us to
eat lunch with her... it was awesome. it worked out perfect too cuz
the member that day just pays for a little restaurant thing... so we
got good food at her house. We had a lot of work done this day. we
talked to a member that is struggling. she is about 15 and has a 1
year old kid... i guess she is hanging out with some drug dealers as
well. Anyway, then we taught irmã Maria de Jesus, the deaf woman, and
then a family that is related to a very active member in the branch...
they have already heard the missionaries so it was a little hard... so
we just left them with a thought. We taught a very cool man named
Alan... (some good names just always run with good people... huh dad)
it was a good lesson and he said he would get baptized on the first
visit... that doesnt happen much... just he wasnt at home sunday to go
to church so we´re gonna have to wait another week. then we talked to
alesandra again... she as well didnt go to church with us on
sunday.... darn.

Friday morning we visited joão paulo and nayara again... they are
doing way better now. it was very cool. Lunch was very far again...
but hey, its food right? we ended up coming back and going to bruno´s
for a little. he let us ride his skateboard...i stink but it was
fun... something i would like to practice when i get back. Then we
went to talk to Prado later, a special guy, and he wasnt there so we
talked to Kayque, his son. I guess he stole the book of mormon we gave
to his dad and started reading it... very cool kid and the lesson was
awesome. Explaining from where the book of mormon came.

Saturday was a great day. We talked with Kayque again in the morning
because Prado wanted to talk to us. Prado is very interesting, but
very special. He prayed and said that he knew the book of mormon is
true and asked that one day he could maybe be a teacher or leader in
the mormon church someday... haha pretty strong words. Be careful what
you wish for! just kiddin. We get to lunch and we had, guess what?
fish! and freshly pulled out of water shrimp... they werent all done
up nice and neet like applebee´s, they took them out of water, boiled
them in salt water, then gave them to us to eat... haha pretty
intense! Then we took a van to talk to Teresa Cristina. This was one
of the coolest moments on the mission so far. She told us she has been
thinking a lot about the church and she has a habit of doing this
thing where she prays then opens the bible to a random page and starts
reading. She decided to do it with the Book of Mormon this time... She
did it and opened right to 3 Nephi 30:2. Talks about Repenting,
baptism, and receiving the holy ghost.... basically the gospel of
jesus christ in one huge verse... it was awesome. she told us that she
thinks its a sign that she should get baptized and start a new path in
her life. very cool experience... but too good to be true right? there
was english class and a wedding at the church that night and we met
with a family that has a son that joined the church and served a
mission in provo and is now there and studying.... noone else in his
family is members... pretty amazing.

Sunday was awesome. We got Nayara, joão paulo, almost all of prado´s
family to church, we got kayque, camila, and valda to church but prado
couldnt come, i got felipe to church and Teresa cristina came as well,
it was a good meeting. We had our branch filled with investigators. We
went throughout the day and that night we visited Teresa Cristina
again... it was very cool but she told us her grandma didnt want us to
come back again... so we have to respect that. We were walking home
and we got about 1 football field away when all the sudden we here,
HEY MORMONS, COME HERE! we went back and it was the grandma. She told
us to forget we ever met teresa cristina and never go back. i didnt
say much, but i wish i did! man its gonna be tough.... so it was too
good to be true.

Today we played some soccer and it was fun... im gonna go home, take a
shower and take a nap in my nice new hammock.... aww yeah.

It was good to here from you guys... sounds like everything is as busy
as ever... it looks like you had some questions.... so ill get to
answering those... Thanks for everything. mom and dad, you are
awesome.

Wk 59 - Hello again.

Area: Parnaíba
Companion: Elder Arrant

well... its been a pretty long, yet quick week as usual... it sounds
like you guys are doin good though.. sorry to hear about your finger
dad. thats never too fun. sounds like ruger is doin good.. what a
stud. cant wait to meet him some day.

-Let me just say this.. preach my gospel is one of the
most inspired books that the church has. it is very clear and direct
on your purpose on the mission... if you want to have success you will
follow that book. The book itself is an inspiration, but it mostly
teaches you to follow your personal inspiration. a great talk in the
last conference was by Elder Bednar (who by the way is coming to my
mission in november) and it talks about revelation from the spirit.
Many times the mission is a difficult place, but when we follow the
preach my gospel and seek inspiration by praying, fasting, obeying the
rules (even though it is nearly impossible to be perfect), and
seeking inspiration... that is when you will be a succesful
missionary. The preach my gospel nights were some of the most
memorable nights i have of the priests quorom...right along with
boating and ice berg... but it was an activity that is guaranteed to
help any young man preparing for a mission. You will be able to
practice in the MTC with confidence because you have already practiced
and thus you will go into the mission field better prepared. The
Preach my Gospel says it all... but the last part of this title,
because it was taken from a scripture in D&C, says that we need to
Preach the Gospel (not our gospel, but the lords
) BY THE SPIRIT. If you follow the guidlines in the Preach my Gospel,
you are guaranteed to become a better person and have more success in
your mission.

By the Parnaiba River

part of the last package!

Hammock time!
Where 4 Elders sleep

smoot, arrant, martinez, amaral,
ferreira, tomé, larsen, ribeiro...(all in the same house-
not sure who's who!)

Elder ?, Arrant, & Smoot

___________________________________________________________________

Well to tell you about my week.... it was the routine. same old same old haha.

Last p day, like this one, we played soccer... we are playing a lot
now. me and my comp like to practice at home, even though we are
american and arent that great... we practice soccer and arm wrestles..
he is a pretty strong kid and was a lot stronger before the mish, but
we have a good time and we are gettin pretty good.... i think.

Tuesday we had the district meetintg... its pretty chill. we had a
long walk after that though. Our lunch was on one side and our area
was on the other... it was a lot of walking. but it was alright... we
talked to a lot of people but not a very fruitful or successful
day..which made it drag a little.

Wednesday was good. we had a good lunch and a member showed us this
lady that has gone away from the church... it was a good lesson with
her. and we met up with a lady that stopped us in the street (i think
i already mentioned her before) maria de jesus. She is cool, but deaf,
so our lessons are basically pointing and writing stuff down on a
peace of paper. and we also met this man named paulo who is cool and
has a sister living in france that is a member of the church. He has
some very cool dogs too, which is rare, and a big white wolf looking
dog... anyway it was a good talk with him, but he has a big problem
with drinking.

Thursday we had our weekly planning, had lunch, we met with gorete who
is a lady i used to teach when i was here, and then we ran some
errands real quick and the rest of the day was pretty slow.

Friday we walked and then some. our lunch was super far in the other
area. we went and got tiago, from campo maior, then he went with us to
basically the other end of our area.. but it was fun. we had a good
visit and later i found ciro and vanessa´s house and i think it might
be part of the other branch now that they moved.. but they are cool
and it was a miracle that i found him.. he saw me passing one day in
the road and told me to pass by.. nobody new where he went when he
moved... so that was cool.

Saturday we left early in the morning to this irmãs house who offered
to wash our hammocks for us... she is so cool! she gave us 10 reais to
buy breakfast as well... her name is irmã lurdes and she is a big help
to us and is very cool. i think her son, jorge lucas, added dad on
facebook... they are a good family and they dont have a dad... anyway
we had a good lunch and then we met some awesome investigators that
were contacts of other missionaries. We met first, Teresa Cristina.
She is 19 and is very smart and is studying and said she hasnt
switched religion yet because she hasnt found the right church... and
she willingly went to church on sunday with us... she was cool. Also
we met prado.. prado has past cancer and is very beat up looking. Very
willing to do the lords will and he also went to church on sunday and
loved it... it was awesome. And at night we had our english class.
good saturday.

Sunday was cool with the people in church. We met with Prado after
lunch and he talked to us for a while which was cool. We had a meeting
at the church about missionary work. They put in more missionaries
here in parnaíba so no the whole church focus here is to get the
branch to grow... this sunday in particular has been one of the
fullest sundays anyone has ever seen in our ward... it was cool. As
far as baptisms are going... its still tough.. but we are doing our
best...

Well thats about my routine haha.... it was a good week and time is
passing by pretty quick here... have a good one.

elder smoot

Wk 58 - Hammock time!!

Parnaiba

Elder Smoot & Arrant

Area: Parnaíba
Companion: Elder Arrant

Wow sounds like life is good! the baseball is still a rockin and
sounds like the big rugster is a stud. thanks for sendin pics! i love
them..sounds like dusty had some accident?? thats not good... that
reminds me of that one time he went blind... i miss our dogs. most of
the dogs here are gross and diseased. i love animals but here you
never know what they are carrying with them. BYU football has started
already! thats crazy.. too bad they didnt beat texas that would have
been cool. I guess elder gessel knows the byu quaterback... he said he
is a little cocky haha. funny stuff.. well im good with everything for
now.. im loving the package! thanks mom.

Well.... its funny because working in the same area, im seeing some of
the same difficulties we had before! but i have a good comp that we
help each other and we are doing good. my comp is elder arrant and he
is from hooper, ut. He loves hunting and is a pretty cool kid. i think
he lives up by russell smoot?? or something. up in that direction.

last p day was pretty cool... we went and visited a few places, the
bridge and stuff.. then went to play cards, phase 10, at tiago´s
house! so yes i have seen tiago haha he is in my branch.

tuesday we got back into the swing of things with district meeting. my
district is me my comp, elder martinez and elder amaral. We went to
lunch at the branch pres. house. they had a guitar there that was
pretty cool. I have learned a lot on the guitar and am excited to get
home and play more. We went to work pretty good and it was tough. We
walked a lot, but we found a less active girl that i knew before, i
saw bruno again, and we pretty much talked to random people in the
street all day.. We were on our way home and an irmã from the ward was
eating and she called us over from the street and bought us espetinhos
from the restaurant, i think they are shishcabobs in english??, and a
fanta soda.. it was sweet. the people are really awesome here when you
make friends.

Wednesday was brasil´s independence day... and we woke up to a nice
cool breeze outside... so because we have 8 people at the house, 3 of
us sleep outside in our hammocks. its me, my comp, and elder larsen.
Every night we have hammock time.... its the bomb... everynight is
just the best time ever because we are so ready for sleep. and
outside gets nice and chilly so its awesome. we visited joão paulo and
nayara in the morning to help them with english and their mom gave us
lunch! thats cool and all, but we already had a lunch marked... so we
had a 1st lunch, then a 2nd lunch haha. it was funny. it was kinda
hard to work because of the holiday, but it was alright. we had vitor,
a member, go with us and we had a visit to a lady named maria de
jesus... she had stopped us in the road and said she had talked to the
missionaries before and wanted more visits... there are many times
here that i have seen people come up to us and ask to hear about the
church.. i thought that was really interesting mom because i recognize
that it happens a lot more after you mentioned that prayer thing...
thought that was cool.

thursday we had lunch at luziano´s which is good because he owns a
restaurant thing so we go eat there. We worked and met some people
that the missionaries were teaching... but they didnt go to church and
i can tell they dont want anything so that was a bummer. And we met
francisco... he has a lot of potencial in the church, but his parents
are catholic and were saying stuff to him so its gonna be a tough
baptism.

Friday president and the new assistents (Elder gessel and Elder Vitor)
came to parnaiba. they did a leadership training so i went with elder
larsen and amaral to lunch at bruno´s. it was a good lunch and a lot
of fun. We visited felipe, the kid i baptized, and then went to go
get our comps back. me and elder arrant went to visit a guy that got
baptized about a year ago that i used to visit... it was alright.

Saturday we split again. my comp went to go do an interview with elder
martinez and i went with amaral to teach joão paulo and nayara. we met
up after and went to lunch. We met up with wilson after and he is a
good guy that also has some potential... but until now i dont think he
is understanding how important the church is... cuz he didnt go.
Anyway, at night we taught english and its really fun... another cool
story. 2 men stopped us in the last week and asked us about this
class, and actually came!! then they asked about the church and how
they could learn more about it.... Elder Chiba helped set this english
class up and it is awesome... lots of success. then we stayed and
watched elder martinez´s baptism.

Sunday we walked to pick people up for church... but nobody went... so
church was good, but i was a little dissappointed that noone went.
Lunch after was really good and all at irmã ceres. we started working
and we visited francisco at an irmã´s house here... after she had
prepared food for us.. but we were fasting! it was tought but she sent
it home with us in some tubberware. After we visited a few more, and
vitor with his wife ione... we got home and a member dropped off a
cake for us too!! everyone was offering food to us... it was hard...
and funnier than this.. we are here at this lan house and the sweet
lady that lives here, its just in the front of her house, just came
out and gave us soda... we decided we were done and just drank it.
funny stuff!! gotta love it.

ok so ive been studying the past conference... and i like some good
talks that are good motivation... especially for people thinking about
missions. Elder oaks-desire. and elder anderson - preparing the world
for the 2nd coming.

I've been trying new fruit.. cajú was a recent one... it was alright.
and i tried jambo... that one was pretty good but i didnt think it was
amazing... the fruits are really cool here and there are a ton of
different ones.

just wondering...people were asking what americans eat... i dont
really know?? what do we eat. and some wanted some simple or cheap
meals they could make... anyway, if you have any ideas let me know.

well i love you and sounds like things are going good.. make it an amazing week.

elder smoot

Wk 57 - Parnaíba...once again

---on the bus with elder larsen!!! going to parnaiba... we got an
executive bus... the seats were huge!! 2 seats on one side... 1 on
the other of the aisle.. it was a good ride

-entering the zoo

--the lion king.

--everyone there

--cool bird

--black, bailey me, rudolphi... coke

--the river

--at the river

--river...again

--iguana

--iguana love

---cool monkey

--in the center of teresina

--me bailey and helton.. leaving teresina

--at the bus station... 40 celcius = 104 F

--i got my package!! thanks mom...

Area: Parnaíba
Companion: Elder Arrant

Well.....as you have heard. im in parnaiba again. Im in the same area
too! but the area was divided so i am only in half of the area. My
companion is elder arrant from hooper, UT. another american! and he is
a good guy. so this time will be a lot different in parnaiba. I was
pretty disappointed at first, but now it wont be too bad. I have seen
a few people i was teaching in the past who got baptized and are
really good members in the church now!! that is very cool and makes me
very happy. So im sorry i didnt get many pics of them this week... but
next week ill get some pics for sure..

so the week went like this.... as you saw on monday we went to the
zoo... it was a lot of fun and very chill. We met up with elder
Crittenden, gonçalves, black, rudolphi, larsen, and coelho. It was a
very relaxing place with some cool animals.

Tuesday we went to district meeting, but the others didnt know we were
going to have it, so we hung out, talked a little about what was going
on in our areas and then we ended up staying in cidade jardim to eat
lunch. When we got back, we went to work, me and elder bailey, and we
taught daniela, who is an old investigator and one day will get
baptized i think, and then lediane, who sells dvds and we talked to
her about the book of mormon, and then with jancy. jancy is a cool guy
with a family of 3 kids and we just started teaching about christ and
how joseph smith restored the church... pretty basic, but very good
stuff.

Wednesday we went to lunch, like normal, after we talked to maria das
Graças and then over to cassios mom Nice because she lived close....
just a normal day ya know? we went down to a member named juliana, the
angel of this ward (ALWAYs happy and there to help someone and never
talks bad on anyone... which is rare here), we taught her cousin....
right after we taught her cousin we got a call from a few missionaries
that were getting transfered... from cidade jardim, from elder black
in campo maior, and from crittenden and his companion.... so we
thought, because we didnt get a call, that we were staying and i was
going to be the last comp of elder bailey.... so we kept visiting and
we met with dailane and then went home... we get home and gessel was
all asking if we were ok and we were fine. Then he said, ´you better
get packing´.... he didnt know that we hadnt been told yet! it
sucked... we got the news at like 10 so i was up washing clothes and
packing till about 1 am...

Thursday morning we got up early and said bye to everyone.... a few
people started crying, but you know... we tend to have that affect on
people haha just messin. We had to go to the center for bailey´s ear
appointment, then we came back and helton gave me 30 reais to get a
taxi.. that guy is a stud. So i went to the bus station, helton met us
there, i got on the bus and was traveling all day to parnaiba... it
was so nice when i got there. i forgot about the wind and i still
havent used a fan since ive been here... i saw elder iverson and all
and im excited to be here.... oh and quick note... my first comp is
here again too... just he is in another house... the house of elder
iverson. im back in the same house, but this time with 8 missionaries.
they uped the number of missionaries because they want to make a stake
here in parnaíba in the next year or so.

Friday we studied then the other missionaries marked to teach english
at this ladies class.... so we went as guests to talk to some people
in english. we grabbed some addresses too so it was cool. we had a
good lunch with açerola juice, amazing by the way, and then went to go
get to know the area. i found a bunch of members houses ive already
passed and it was kinda fun... especially now that i can speak
português!! Anyway it was pretty fun to see everyone again.

Saturday we had another good lunch then we went to go do interviews
cause my comp is district leader... we visited another guy that i used
to talk to, then went to the church to teach english... some class at
the church that elder chiba started... everyone here misses elder
chiba a lot, so we gotta do good here to not mess up what he has
started. AFter, the other guys had a baptism and we stayed and
helped...

Sunday we went to go get some people to go to church... and we already
lost an investigator we were teaching... but its ok. We went to
church, which was good and fast and testimony meeting, then we went to
lunch. It was fun to catch up with everyone, especially the people
that i started teaching and found in the street and that are still
going to church! We spent the afternoon trying to get people in the
afternoon ward and we did get a few... so it was fun. We stayed pretty
close to the chapel and just talked to a bunch of people in the
street... cause we dont know who to visit. Anyway, it was a good day.

im glad its p day cause im pretty tired..

Well, thats about it for me... sounds like life is still going for you
guys. those pics were awesome mom! Jade looks pretty dang tall... but
now in this new house i have a pull up bar, my ab wheel, pushups, jump
rope...etc. And my headaches have gone away, im just taking it is slow
and easy at first and ill work back into it... so i think im still
gonna be bigger... sorry jade. i still love you though. Tayton sounds
like things are going good and jenna as well.. you are all just
awesome people and i cant wait to get back... but for now im way
excited to be here as well... it is difficult and hard work, but i am
enjoying making new friends and learning a lot of new things... its
great

live life to its fullest this week.

elder smoot