Wk 88 - Easter Weekend...

Elder Smoot & Elder De Los Santos (from Argentina)

verdão here in teresinathey play mostly
soccer there, but i saw
basketball hoops and
they have karate and
capoeira and other
fight competitions

also we drank some of that mate stuff that austin brought home from
argentina... except there is another one that is better. its called
tereré and you drink it with lime juice stuff and cold and it gives it
a mint flavor... way better than the hay water haha but yeah we will
get some mate this week i think.. im looking for one of those cups to
buy. this cup is of another elder here

under a bridge with some graffiti

Area: Buenos Aires
Companion: Elder De Los Santos

You guys are on vacation right now? Man i miss spring break and other
holidays... good stuff. And thats way cool that taylor is comin home
this week! Crazy isnt it? and jade man you gotta quit growin on me...
im not sure how i can go out in public with you... ill look like a
midget. Mom, loved the pics of the baseball and all and dad you too. I
got my package this week with the family calendar in it... i loved the
pics and i dont believe how much everyone has changed. Crazy what
happens in a year and 8 months. And i was glad to hear that you met
crittenden haha he is a way good guy.

This week was pretty lame because of semana santa or saint week.
Everyone travels during the week because it is vaction day. SOOO, the
down was pretty deserted... But we still went on as normal. DIstrict
meeting on tuesday, i gave a little doctrine training thing about
praying to know the truth through the holy ghost... there is a part
that says, ´noone can know of spiritual truths without praying´ or
something like that.... Anyway, its very important in our work. We had
lunch at Nilza´s house who is a cool member up in the other elders
area. She owns a pizza restaurant, but only opens at night. We visited
some recent converts, edinalva and her mom (domingos´s family) And we
visited Lásaro, who elder crittenden baptized. He is having some
difficulties, but goes to church every sunday and is a decent guy. We
ended the night talking to josé, kelly and ana karine´s dad, about
conference. He really liked it and said he wants to get baptized, just
that he is waiting for his wife too...

Wednesday we had lunch at Jean´s house. His family aren´t members but
are really cool people. His mom made lunch for us and all. Jean is a
good guy. We had a good day later because domingos and another member
flavio that already served a mission came with us to do visits. We
even split up and i went with domingos so flavio could help my comp,
and i went to visit a family, edinaldo and elizabete. They are a great
family and we had an incredible lesson about the restoration, but she
keeps saying that she doesnt want to change religion.... i know that
God prepares the elects, but the people that most accept us dont have
a desire to change! They just like to listen to our message and thats
it.

Thursday we had lunch at home and i made some rice and beans... that
was actually the first time i made beans from scratch, but it turned
out really good. I gotta say, lunch without rice and beans is pretty
wierd now! im gonna have to go to costa vida every day haha.... you
gonna go with me mom? Well the rest of the day was pretty slow, but we
did get to talk to fátima, who is the mom of kelly and ana karine. We
had a really in depth discussion about the restoration and it was
good. She believes it all... she just doesnt believe that its the ONLY
way.... Im telling you that the mission really tests your patience! We
read 1 nefi 15:11 that talks about if you DILIGENTLY KEEP THE
COMMANDMENTS, the answer will be given to you.... but what can i do! i
even told her to try and stop with coffee and see if the answer comes,
and she said she didnt need to.... aiaiai i really want to help... but
i cant go any further than her will and pleasure. great family and she
will get baptized one day.

Friday was a desert here... noone home, we walked until about 7 30
lookin for places to go... and finally we found Levy who we also
taught the restoration to and he said the first night we came that he
had a dream... something about a ´pillar of light over his head´....
people recieve answers all the time! but its faulting them following
their answer. We also talked to Edinaldo and elizabete again and again
she said she wants to stay in her religion but really likes us and
even had a dream with us in it... and yeah she has many good
questions, but doesnt want to do anything.... gotta have patience!

Saturday we went to lunch... and they werent there. They had traveled
with everyone else, so we went home to make lunch, then got another
call from the secretaries saying that we could eat with them... So we
walked out there. We had a coulple of visits with george who is a
recent convert... he started telling us that he wants to leave the
church and doesnt want to go anymore. What do you say to that? I told
him on sunday we will go to church and i will introduce him to the
bishop.. there were actually 3 young men that i left in the bishops
office to talk to him... so that was good i hope. We then taught
antonio and martha who we met last week.. they accept us very well,
but are very stuck on their church which is the universal church. I
dont know how they could be but martha is antonio daughter and is part
of a youth group in the church.. anyway, again they accept us well,
but dont want to go to the church.

Sunday we started walking in the street and my comp had forgotten his
name tag, so we went back home. I had called to the other missionaries
to grab it for us. We got upstairs and the others were ready to go
down with his tag, so we all got in the elevator, there was 8 of us.
We started going down and someone accidently turned off the light,
then all of the sudden the elevator hit something and went two more
floors down then stopped... we were stuck. One elder started getting
mad and upset and one elder started saying a prayer out loud and ah
man i started laughing sooooo harrdd. My comp was laughing about it
all day. THe elder that prayed said stuff like, ´lord we still have
stuff to do in our lives and we have to go to church right now!´ haha
we were only stuck for about 5 minutes and the worker of our
apartement building came up and opened the door because we were in the
middle of the floors, but it was easy to get out. So that was the
start to our sunday. We had a good church meeting, but hardly anyone
was there, and after we had lunch and it rained a little in the
afternoon, but we didnt have much to do cause a lot of people were
gone... we did go get a movie from elder lima and took it to ana
karine and kelly´s house to have a little family night with them and
it was a good end to the week. their dad took us home and that was the
week.

We may go bowling today... not sure. i just gotta figure out how to
take advantage of p day cause the weeks are tough. But my comp is a
good guy and likes to laught and have a good time so its good.

Hope you all have a good week once again and give taylor austin a big
hug for me.

Love ya,

Elder SMoot

Wk 87 - Conference weekend

Area: Buenos Aires
Companion: Elder De Los Santos

Well it was good to hear from you guys as always. I am glad helton

made it to our house! Haha he´s a good guy. Jade is so stinkin tall!!!
Gosh dang… I don’t know how im gonna like that when I get back. How
did he do that? Im gonna start sleepin with my feet attached to the
ceiling. Anyway there´s some pics for yall. Got some of us playin
basketball…. Me and elder smith with elder azevedo in the background,
me and elder lambert, me and my new comp elder de los santos and what
not….

This week was super different. Monday we played basketball then got
calls that there was a transfer. Elder Lima went way to Buenos aires
1… or the closest area to ours possible. I will see him every week in
district meeting and every Sunday at church haha. I am gonna miss bein
his comp tho cuz he´s a funny kid.

Tuesday Elder lima went to his area (jean picked him up) so I stayed
with elder almeida. We went to his area to pack his bags and to eat
lunch at the stake patriarchs house. We then went to say bye to a
recent convert he baptized and they gave us a ride back to the center,
close to the staff where I live. I helped him to the bus station with
his bags at about 5 pm and that was where I stayed waiting with elder
pearson till about 8pm where his comp showed up. I got a ride back
with them in elder pearson´s investigator´s car and I was dropped off
at the staff… on the way there he had a little box of sound that he
used to listen to music. I put in my church music USB and it was cool
cuz we heard some sweet church music and he asked for it and he´s not
even baptized… pretty cool investigator if you ask me. I got home and
got kicked out of my house because all of the newbies were there and
it was going to be a pain to have 20 people using the same bathroom
and trying to pass their shirts in the morning… so I went to the
uruguai area with elder Santana and elder sessions who have a little
more time on the mission… good guys.. so that’s where I stayed for the
night. In a completely different house!

Wednesday was a training in the morning so we came back early to get
there and we had that till noon… just learning about a new 12 week
program they have for new missionaries. We ate lunch then I was on
division with the secretaries all day because my comp was having some
issues being in brasil because he´s from argentina so he stayed in sao
Paulo for a couple of days. So I stayed with the secretaries and we
did mail runs, then I organized materials, sorted letters, then we had
to pick up a young man from the bus station to go on his mission and
take him to presidents house to be ordained (this because districts in
the mission boundaries use the mission pres. As stake president when
leaving on missions or going to the temple.) We then went to one of
their investigators house to teach them (well me and elder eberhardt)
and it was a crazy long day.. good stuff though.

Thrusday we had another 5 hours of training about weekly planning. We
got done at about 1 30 and again I went with the secretaries to do
mail runs, then organize more materials. My comp is Elder De Los
Santos and he got there at about 4 pm. He had his interviews with
president then we had a little training together… I took him back to
the house to drop off his stuff just in time to grab a taxi to go to
presidents house… Because his group of missionaries already passed in
presidents house, I got to go with him to eat dinner with the
president… we had a little devotional with him then we went home to
hit the hay.

Friday was our first official day together. We have to study for 4
hours a day. 1 hour of personal study, 2 hours of companionship study,
and 1 hour of language study. We had lunch far away so we grabbed a
bus… and we had a long walk back. We had a great day though. We made
some new contacts and met a man and, funny story, I tried to give him
a copy of those book of mormons that sister lois sent me… and he
wouldn’t accept it because it had a picture! I explained what it was
but he said it was a personal thing and couldn’t accept it because I
received it from someone else… Ugh. But im giving them away. We then
met a MARRIED family that was awesome. They have a 14 and 16 year old
kids. WE had a great lesson about the restauration then at the end we
even had a kneeling prayer and they agreed to everything… so now we
need to go back and see how they are doing. We also talked to carol
and invited her to be baptized and she accepted… sure it will be
difficult but I think we will be able to do it. My comp is a pretty
good guy and speaks portnish. Its half Portuguese half Spanish haha so
its kinda weird to understand. Argentina has a weird accent.

Saturday we had our studies, then lunch. Just that we got to lunch
late so we ended up watching the first session on the members computer
in a small room haha but we made it back in time to watch the Saturday
afternoon session at the stake center. We dropped of some pamphlets at
the one families house that we met yesterday and I dropped off a book
of mormon to the man that wouldn’t accept the one with pictures haha.
WE also met up with fabricio to see how he was doin… he is doin good
but it is hard to baptize them because they have known the church
forever and the grandma is cool but keeps saying that her heart
doesn’t want it yet, but sometime in the future she intends to get
baptized in the church…. I don’t know what to do!

Sunday we watched the priesthood session from 10-12, ate lunch at the
church, then had conference from 1-3 and 5-7. The last session of
conference José and Fátima came!!! They really enjoyed it, but had to
leave early because they had a phone call saying that their neighbor
just died or something… Im really happy we had the comfort of the
talks this weekend that can help anyone facing these difficult
challenges. There were truly some powerful talks that bring lots of
comfort to our lives. After conference we taught a new contact we made
that was pretty cool. He really didn’t want to let us in, but after
some talking he let us in and we even taught his daughter and it was
really cool… I realized with a newer comp than me that I have learned
and grown a lot out here… It is amazing.

It was a hectic, but very pleasant week with conference weekend. Like
you mom I didn’t sleep at all! I really learned to enjoy conference
now and just get a lot more out of it than I did before.

Love you guys, have a great week

Elder Smoot

Wk 86 - Weekly letter

Area: Buenos Aires
Companion: Elder Lima

Hey again... man this week was kinda fast... it feels like yesterday i
was writing email to you... man this whole email thing is so boring!
but ill still do it so dont worry. Sounded like another full week for
you guys and sounded like a fun trip. I gotta say though that so me
vacation would be going to the cold... i havent seen anything below 75
for over a year and 6 months... its starting to drive me crazy! the
coldest i get is in the shower. Anyway, as always i love to hear about
the baseball and what not. keep up the good work bros.

This week was as any other week on the mission. The district meeting
on tuesday and all... i did do a division with elder martinez though
which was cool. He is a good guy. We did have to take two busses
though cuz my lunch was way out in buenos aires again. So we had a
good chocolate cake at lunch with strawberrys... it has been so long
since i have had strawberries. My taste buds have completely changed
on the mission. My subway sandwich isnt just meat, cheese and mayonese
anymore if you know what im sayin. It was a good day tho with elder
martinez... he is a good guy. mexican heritage but he´s from mesa
arizona. We had a good day teachin the people and all but i wasnt
feelin to good. I had to put on some vicks vapor rub and take some
pepto bismol to sleep good that night.

Wednesday elder lima came back to the house and during the day we made
some new contacts with people that were cool. We met someone named
tamara haha go figure. But she was from a different city called oeiras
so it wont work out to teach her too much. It was elder pires´s
birthday so a member made pizza for us that night and we ate it with
him.. it started to rain to so they gave us a ride home... what a good
day.

On thursday is weekly planning, but its hard to do this stuff cuz we
have elder almeida and elder santana in our house. elder almeida´s
comp has a hurt foot, so they cant go work for a while... it is
possible that his comp will get sent home to do some physical therapy
and stuff. We did meet with ana virginia and teach her about temples
which was cool. Thats definitely something that i plan on taking
advantage of when we get back.... the temples are awesome. We talked
to fabrício and mateus about baptism some more... but their grandma
thinks they are too young to make a decision for themselves... so it
will be difficult. We conversed with Guilbert and he is still
struggling with smoking and drinking a little... I really want to help
him, but i dont know what to do. it will require a lot of desire on
his part. Our last visit was with josé and fatima where we watched the
joseph smith movie. It is always a testimony strengthener of why we
are here and the sacrifices that the early saints went through so that
we can have the church on the earth today.

Friday i bought a new journal thing.. its kind of a calendar thing,
but im running out of paper in my journal... do you believe it? i have
written every day till now. WE had a good lunch of rice, beans, some
pasta casserole thing, fruit salad, and a mix of alfredo with meat..
it was good. Friday was the day as well that i went and saw jean. He
really liked you guys so thanks for helpin him out. haha he like the
xbox kinect so much that he bought one for himself he told me. Thanks
for the package! i´ve been eating a lot of candy lately but dont worry
about if i do or dont have candy on easter... doesnt make a big
difference for me if its now or later! Thanks for the treats and the
memory cards and shoe insoles!

Saturday lunch was really far away, so we stayed home and bought some
stuff close by then we went to mateus and talked about my favorite
question.... WHY? Why we should go to church, why should we follow the
prophet, why we should keep the commandments..etc. The why for me is
really easy to answer now. Its because God exists and he knows what
will bless and protect our lives. Its god´s map on showing us how to
be happy. Man the mission really cleared a lot of things up for me. We
took ana virginia to institute which is on the other side of the river
so we had to cross the bridge.... institute was pretty far but it
worked out for us to have her get a ride home from a member... we went
back to our area, but it was tough.. Carol wasnt home and neither was
amparo or rayca... so we pretty much walked the rest of the night.. We
got home a little early for us to cut hair.

Sunday we had church, then lunch which was super hot. I dont know why,
but the house we were in didnt have windows.... and the sun was
especially hot this day, so it was basically an oven or sitting in a
sauna in church clothes. it was quite the experience. We ended up
having a pretty long day again... just visited Mychely and talked
about enduring to the end and how prayer and scripture study and
reading the scriptures is important and we visited domingos who is a
stud and he walked in the street with us trying to make some
contacts... but we only got a couple of addresses and not too much
success...

But it was a good week and like i said, it passed pretty quick. Every
week is going by and today there are about 8 missionaries leaving
including elder Gessel, elder olsen, Elder Wells, and some others.
There will be a change but i dont know anything about transfers still.

Love you. have a good week and remember to live life to the fullest
cuz its passin by so fast.

Elder Smoot