Letter #23 (Oct .28 2013)

Dear Family,
I’m sorry I forgot to write about the earthquake. It was a really big
deal for some of the other islands. Especially in Cebu, there was
massive destruction. For us, it was more just scary than harmful. It
started during personal study and I thought sister natarte was pushing
against our desks, but then Sis. Ang (another sister in the house)
told us to all get outside. It lasted a long time for an earthquake…
at least a couple of minutes. It felt like we were on a boat, but more
jerky. Haha, it was my first time in an earthquake so I was more
confused than anything else. Sister Natarte was really freaked out
because there was a really bad earthquake when she was little. But
this one wasn’t too bad and there weren’t any problems  here in
Pulupandan at least. But we did hear about some other problems in
other islands.
Last night we had a brown out.  (Black out) We were in a dangerous
part of our area with a lot of drunks, but we have such amazing
investigators in that area and Bishop’s house is close if we have any
problems so we are extremely careful (don’t freak out mom.) But if
there is no electricity anywhere, then it becomes a little more tricky
to remain safe. It was around 7:20 when we were walking to an
appointment and everything went completely black.  It was a cloudy
night so there wasn’t even the moonlight.  I immediately grabbed
Sister Natarte and we locked arms and I just said, “we need to leave
NOW” We were walking as fast as we could with our linked arms and she
was feeling along the wall to know which direction to walk and I was
frantically digging through my bag trying to find my mini flashlight
keychain (thanks dad, it’s a life saver) and also looking for the cell
phone. We got the flashlight and ran directly to Bishop’s house and
stayed there for around 20 minutes but there still wasn’t any light,
but the other sisters called us and told us to come home now and that
they were there. We went home and got out all the candles and we got
to study and plan all by candlelight and then cook and eat dinner by
candle light (how romantic… haha). This was actually the 3rd or 4th
time that we have had a brown out but this one was definitely the
longest. I always feel like a real pioneer missionary when we get to
study at our big wooden desks by candlelight. It really is a neat
experience. It’s just a little hard when you need to use the CR
(bathroom).
Also this week we had a long time investigator who really hasn’t been
progressing, but she came to church on Sunday!!!! It was just two
weeks ago that she was running away from us… litterally.  We came to
her house and when she saw us she ran to the back gate, but there was
a lock on it and she couldn’t get it undone fast enough and she was
trying to get away so fast and she seemed so stressed out, so we just
said, “can we help you sister?” She just got more mad and finally got
the door open and ran away.  We were actually really depressed about
it and were about to give up, but she finally started reading her
libro ni mormon and she told us she wanted to come to church and then
she came and told us afterwards that she wants to come every week and
she now has a baptism date for Nov. 30. Her name is Sister Isabell and
just last night she defended us against some neighbors who were
mocking us and cat-calling. She will really be a force to be reckoned
with when she’s a member.  She is going to be such a great help to
this ward.
Also, there is an election going on, so there have been a lot of
campaigning parades through town.During one of them, I waved to a
couple of the kids who know me from around the neighborhood (it really
is a small town), but then the whole parade of kids started following
me instead of the candidate.  He started getting a little angry but I
really couldn’t do anything about it. We tried walking faster, but
they just kept running after us. I went up to the candidate and shook
his hand and apologized, but he was still pretty angry. I hope he
wins, just so he doesn’t blame me for anything. Haha!
Anyway, I love you all so much and I really do appreciate all of you.
Thank you for your support and stories. I really do have a testimony
that I’m supposed to be here, even though some days can still be hard.
I know that this is where the Lord wants me and I’m grateful that you
were able to help me get here! Love you lots!
Sister Smoot

Letter # 22

Dear Family,
This week was so long, because it was so packed full. It was full of sickness, travel, and one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had on my mission.  First of all, on Tuesday we traveled the 1 1/2 hour trip to Bacolod for mission tour on Wednesday! On Tuesday night we stayed with the Sisters in Magsungay which is where I lived for the first two transfers in my mission. It was a little strange to be back, but to not actually live there. We didn't bring pillows or sheets because the instructions told us they would be provided by the hosting missionaries... but they didn't give us any. So we just slept on the floor on an extra foam mattress that was 1 inch thick on top of the tile. Sister Natarte had a horrible cough, so without any elevation while she was sleeping, she pretty much didn't sleep at all and I was trying to give her my bag or anything I could find to help her sleep better, but nothing really helped. I was just glad I had bought her some cough drops the day before. The mattress was a little questionable and I was contemplating just sleeping on the tile, but I spread out my black skirt from the day before and that's where I rested my head.  I'm really not trying to complain, I just wish we could have slept a little better the day before meeting a general authority. But the night wasn't totally horrible. We got to proselyte in Magsungay on Tuesday night since I know the area. It was really fun to know all of the people again and visit my old ward. It made me miss the area a lot, but mainly just the people. When you serve people so much you just fall in love with them.  I know every area will be like that and it is just a part of missionary work, but it was fun to see a lot of the less active families again since that was what the new missionaries there asked us to do. It was fun to be able to fully understand the Ilonggo too, since I'm still picking up the new dialect over here in Pulupandan.  Overall it was really fun, especially with Sister Natarte who is just amazing as always.  Also this week, we found out her family has been trying to contact her but they had an invalid email address for her and the one Sister Natarte had was invalid as well.  President Texted us and told us the real address of her family and he had given her family her real email address.... so now she is emailing her family today. It really has been like waiting for Christmas all week, it's the first contact from her family since she went to the MTC in the beginning of September!

Also this week we were able to listen to Elder Nielson and his wife. He is the Philippines Area President and it was so refreshing and uplifting.  The spirit that they have is just so tangible and I just loved soaking it all up.  Even though we were listening to them from7:00 AM until 3:30 PM I was so sad when it ended. I really received a re-boost in my batteries and could have listened to them for days and days. They loved all of us so much we could feel it individually. That sounds so weird, but I really did feel his love and support and appreciation.  It's been a while since someone has just told us that we are doing a good job. I love hearing how to be better and how to achieve greater things and how to be more obedient... but he also did it in a way that wasn't depressing, but was really motivating and he acknowledged all of the work that we are doing.  It really helped me to re-boost at a time I think I was wearing down. The Lord really knows what we need, exactly when we need it. Also, Sister Nielson's wife is one of the coolest ladies I have ever met.  She is such an eloquent speaker, but also very relateable and entertaining, funny, and the spirit is always there. She talked a lot about her family which made me a little homesick, but not too bad.  It's hard not to miss you all, you are just so amazing. But I know leaving the Philippines will be 100 times harder, so don't worry, I'm soaking up and enjoying every minute here.  

Then on thursday I started feeling a little tired and I kept tripping. Sister Natarte was worried about me and told me I was talking really slow. We decided to get some Gatorade and go home where I slept for the rest of the evening.  Please don't freak out, the nurse just told me that I was over-exhausted. She told me to slow down, take some rest, and stop stressing out.  So on Friday we stayed in all day while I slept and rested. Then on Saturday during our first Lesson, Sister Natarte started having sharp pains in her chest and she couldn't breathe. We told the mission nurse and she told us we needed to come to Bacolod to go to the mission doctor.  When we got there they said she had a viral infection in her lungs from her caugh, so we were to take another day resting at home on Sunday. I had the doctor check me out too just in case something was wrong with me and she told us we had both been working too hard.  In my mind, I was like, "Of course we are working hard... we are missionaries." But I talked to my district leader about it and my Sister Training Leaders and they told me that missionary work doesn't need to be so rushed and we needed to relax a little more. I don't totally agree with them yet, but I'm worried about the Health of Sister Natarte. I don't want to kill off my companion. :) She aggrees with me that this is the Lord's time and we don't want to waste it, so we are working to focus on balancing our dedication and diligence with our health. Don't worry or freak out, I am completely fine. I just thought it was funny.  No one can every accuse me of being a lazy missionary! :) 

Anyway, I love you all so much. 

Love, Sister Smoot

Letter #21 (Oct 14, 2013)

Dear Family, 

This week was another great week. We totaled up all of our numbers for the week and this week we taught 44 investigator lessons. We are consistently being obedient and consistently searching for more and more people to teach and we are working on having short and powerful lessons to leave the investigators with a strong spirit in their homes.  Even with all of our dedication and hard work, I know this is only possible through the Lord.  Even if we were perfect missionaries, it is only through the Lord that these people are converted.  We had to do a lot of clean up in the area because of people attached to the last missionaries. The investigators stopped coming to church because they wanted the old missionaries back. Now we are working on gaining back their trust while making sure their conversion is to the Lord and not to us. It's a hard balance to balance our friendship and trust with each other, while making sure they are relying on the Lord, and not relying on us. I don't know if this is making any sense, but I'll just say that we are really busy, and I know I'm really lucky.

I'm still adjusting to training a Filipina, but I'm learning a lot of Tagalog.  Sister Natarte is so dedicated and really wants to learn and speak Ilonggo, but since she didn't learn it in the MTC (natives of the Philippines just have a week and a half in the Philippines MTC with no language training, so they just show up with nothing and learn they need to learn a new language) she teaches in half Tagalog and half Ilonggo. The grammar structure is almost the same, it's just about learning new vocab, but she's picking it up really fast.  Sometimes it gets hard when they hear her speaking Tagalog so they start speaking Tagalog to match her... then I'm just completely lost, but I'm learning to pick more up and she's learning to speak more Ilonggo.  Either way, the spirit needs to be really strong between us so that we are able to understand what is happening in the lesson, and even when we don't understand everything in the lesson, the spirit works really strongly to help us know what to say.  I'm so grateful for all of my past experiences with the language to give me the strength and confidence to continue doing missionary work with all of my might, mind, and strength. 

Since we are both new, most of our investigators and brand new, so still in the beginning processes of learning the gospel. It's fun to have a lot of the same lessons throughout the day, and we are really learning how to refine our lessons and teaching skills as we teach over and over again. I just can't believe how incredibly blessed we are. It's also a great help for Sister Natarte to get used to the lessons and she is so great about adding her own insights and I love learning from her. I just feel so guilty sometimes because I get to learn so much. I just want to keep learning at this pace for the rest of my life! Oh no, there's my inner nerd coming out again. One quick story about an investigator. Brother Joel is a minister in another religion, but he is very kind and let the missionaries teach him. We found him in the area book so we found his house after asking around and it turns out he has read a lot of the book of mormon and prayed and he knows it is true! He is just worried about leaving his commitments at his church, but he wants to get baptized! We will continue to visit him and support him in following the Lord, but I know I'm so lucky to be able to meet someone with such incredible faith and dedication to the Lord and be a small part in his progression towards God. This work is truly amazing and the daily spirit we feel is so filling. I just feel full all of the time. Full with investigators and full with happiness and full with the spirit and full with the Love of God. I know life isn't always supposed to be this wonderful, and just like we learned in conference, there is also a lot of suffering and enduring,  but it's just so wonderful that we have such hope and comfort and times that are amazing too. Even the days that are hard and we have minimal teaching appointments, we just find a few things to laugh about, and everything turns out okay. When we are diligent, obedient, and choose to smile: that's when I feel the spirit of love and happiness the most.  I love you all and am so grateful for all of you! 

Palangga Ko kamo!

Sister Smoot

Letter #20 (Oct. 7, 2013)

Dear Family,

This week was great! We had a baptism for an investigator who has been an investigator for four years. Obviously Sister Natarte and I can't take credit for his conversion, but it was a pretty special moment. I just wish there was some way I could contact the hundreds of missionaries that taught him and contributed to that day. We asked him for some of their names, but he didn't remember a lot of their names. I guess it will just be a sweet reunion in the celestial kingdom. He's a young adult and really excited about missionary work, so we are excited for all of his friends that he will help bring into the gospel and give us more appointments. Actually, we teach a lot of lessons in this area and a lot of "member present lessons." Which means a lot of our lessons to investigators are being taught with members there. It is really helpful, but since we have so few members, I feel we are always asking the same ones for help. There are only about four families who are active members in our ward and it reminds me a lot of our branch in Montana. We don't have any young women, only a few primary kids, a couple young men, and five relief society members... so basically like our Superior, Montana branch... :) But it has been a great motivation for us as sisters to get more young women for our ward. We are teaching a few right now and we really want friends for them at church, but our mindset is just, "If we can get them baptized, thenthey can be the friends for later investigators. Missionary work is so different then I thought it would be, especially in working on helping the wards become more developed. I remember it used to make me homesick every Sunday because you just kind of remember how great our ward is at home. Yesterday, I noticed SIster Natarte was having a little bit of a hard time, so I finally got her to tell me that she was homesick for her ward too. It really makes me grateful for the little things over there in Highland. We even laughed for a while about how we just miss the carpet. It really adds reverence to the meeting. But every meeting house is dedicated to the Lord and has the same spirit, it's just the small things that remind us how far away we are from home. :)

These last two weeks Sister Natarte has been teasing me about my hair, because we all know that it looks like a stiff, old, tried out broom. So today she was so excited to take an hour bus ride into town to get my hair cut. We made a day out of it and even splurged at the mall and bought some cake. But we went to get my haircut and I just held my breath as I now look hilariously ridiculous. At least I just put my hair up every day so it doesn't really matter, but just like every other missionary said, they cut off more than I asked for. Oh well, it will grow back. At the beginning of my mission it probably would have really bothered me, but now it doesn't really bother me. We had a fun time laughing and preparing for the week, and I know I am so lucky to have a companion who I get along so well with. I know not all of my companions will be like this (even just from past experience) so I am trying to just enjoy every minute of our working together in unity, the emotional support and the friend. I am so lucky and grateful to be a missionary here in this area with Sister Natarte. I feel bad, she always gets sad when we email because her family still hasn't contacted her, but we will keep having positive attutudes and helping our area become strong. I love you all and will give you some better details next week of our investigators and our teaching appointments. This little town is so cute, but we have basically already contacted everyone in our area :) Time for round two! Love you all!

Sister Smoot

(note from mom: Superior Montana was not quite as small- We had about 30 total in sacrament meeting. But I can see why Ashley thought that- We doubled the primary when moving there with our three little girls and by the time we moved 2 years later there were 12 primary kids! haha)

Week # 19 (Sept 30, 2013)

Best week so far! Transferred and training in a new area

Dear Family!

This week has been a little different but definitely one of the greatest on the mission so far. We had an emergency transfer on Tuesday morning and I left my home (haha first area) in Magsungay to go to Pulupandan 1st ward in Bago stake. My new companion is Sister Natarte from Baguio and she is very good at missionary work.  She is also very beautiful. She was a model for a while, but it took me a while to learn that. She has been calling me beautiful for the whole week and insisting that I look exactly like Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) who is apparently her Idol. Then yesterday I just found out she was a model, so now we just joke all the time about how we should have the highest number of investigators now. (It is just a joke and only in the privacy of our home). We are very similar in personality and it has been the funnest week of my whole mission. Even though there is a slight language barrier, we are already really good friends and I'm excited for the rest of her training. She is a brand new missionary too and had only been in the area for two weeks before I got here. She doesn't know Ilonggo and she teaches in Tagalog, but we are slowly helping her learn more Ilonggo. Switching from training an American to Training a Filipina is a little different, but definitely a good change. She can still communicate with the members though since this is a more Tagalog area, but I'm learning a lot.  Since we are both new, it's like starting from scratch and we are doing a lot of finding activities. It's been so amazing. This area is a lot different From Magsungay. It's a lot of fields of sugar cane and rice fields, but it's a lot of fun. Let's just say it smells a lot better.  Also, this is the cutest little village ever. There are these gorgeous flowers that just grow naturally along the side of the roads and the ground doesn't have much litter. Just dirt! It's so clean compared to the city. We don't have a shower any more, just the bucket system, but it makes it a lot quicker. Still no heated water and no AC, but I'm starting to prefer the fans and cool water. We are also living in a cute little house instead of an apartment and there are six sisters instead of four. It's split into two wards. Me and Sister Natarte are in a different ward since we have two elders in our ward. But I love living with more sisters. Safety, and excitement, and two of them are our Sister Training Leaders for our zone, so I can ask any question and they can help. I feel like I'm in a paradise in this area and I'm sorry I haven't really discussed missionary work, but just know that everything is going well and this will probably be my favorite transfer of the mission! Love you all a bunch!

Sister Smoot

Week # 18 ( Sept. 23, 2013)

Hello Family!

This week was a little more stressful than last week as the Lord continues to expect me to learn then apply what I learned. The first week of training was a great motivator, and this week was more of a humbling one. We had the lowest "key indicators" of my entire mission. Those are the numbers associated with missionary work. So for example: the number of baptisms, the number of lessons taught to investigators with a member present..... and so forth. Basically, I was really disappointed in myself.  I know the Lord doesn't expect me to be perfect, and I really am putting all my effort and strength into every day, but it's a little discouraging to have such low numbers and it's a very lonely feeling to feel all of the responsibility.  Low numbers are always a motivation to do better and hopefully we can only go up from here, but sometimes I feel we are getting all of this information poured on us in trainings and meetings about all these things we need to do better and all these things we need to start doing and all these little details that have to be completely perfect or else are considered "unrepentant missionaries"... (we had a really intense zone conference last week). I think as a girl, I just need to hear that I'm doing a good job every once in a while, but that is such a selfish, human need. So I just decided to take what I learned and write everything down that I'm doing wrong or that I need to improve. Then I decided to take 5 things each week to implement. (Because to be completely honest, I still don't really know how to do the basics and right now our ward doesn't even have a relief society presidency or visiting teaching... there's other work that I feel we need to focus on before we spend a lot of energy on the details of a fireside or basketball camp.) The development of wards is so relative though, because we do have an amazing support from bishop and our ward mission leader and we are working together one step at a time to continue growing this area. Whenever I selfishly feel that things aren't how they should be, I remember from the other side of Heaven when Elder Groberg goes to a random Island without a full time mission companion to a place without a real functioning ward without an MTC for guidance or district meetings or any other communication to the outside world or leadership.... I feel a lot better about my situation. Haha, we are just taking one day at a time and the Lord is helping me to stay calm and smile even when I am tempted to cry.  I really have never felt such a constant positive attitude in myself. As you probably remember, I could be a little moody sometimes, :) but I think maybe the greatest blessing I've received from this mission is the constant positivity and hope that I feel. Even when I'm tempted to feel discouraged, the Holy Ghost helps me to feel confident and hopeful for the future.  It definitely requires action on my part to feel happy, but I could not do it alone, so I am forever grateful for the constant presence and support from the Holy Ghost. 

It's been rather difficult to train, especially since I feel like I still need a trainer to know what I'm supposed to be doing sometimes. But I'm trying to continue to have confidence in myself. I'm feeling a lot more love for Sister Manosig who had to deal with my endless questions and just me in general... and I've had some insight into how I will probably feel as a new mother and realizing all Mom had to go through with me. :)  It's a little different with Sister Bahm since we are both from Utah and have more of a similar background, but I don't always know how to help her because she is going through different things than I went through.  I'm grateful that I've learned a little bit more about following the spirit to know what to say to investigators, because it definitely applies to companions as well.  I'm just trying to offer as much support and love as I can, while mostly just listening to her and the spirit.  

There are a lot of things that I'm managing between the ward members, ward leaders, investigators, less-actives, recent-converts, less-active-recent-convers, teaching all of the lessons, planning for most of the lessons, planning who to visit and where to go, teaching someone else how to teach and plan while figuring out how to do it myself, teaching someone a language I have barely been able to grasp onto, keeping up on my own progression of teaching skills and christlike attributes, starting to implement all of the trainings from president (facebook, basketball camps, church tours, member-exchanges, mission preparation classes for youth, teaching english at the chapel, planning firesides and ward activities, working with all the members, visiting all the active members in the ward once a week), doing all the reporting... I know I'm forgetting something, but I feel like I'm always forgetting something.  Haha, basically I'm taking one day at a time and sometimes even one hour at a time, but I know step by step everything will get done. Just keep smiling because even in the midst of all my un organization and chaos, we always have time to talk to someone standing on the street or say a prayer with someone who is crying, or visit a member whose mother just passed away (last wednesday) and those small sacred moments make up for all the rest.  Even though my numbers are down right now, I was able to make someone else smile and I think I'm okay with that. I am following the spirit more than I ever have in my life, so for me, I'm doing my job. There was a quote from Elder Eyring about how whenever he feels he deserves a rest from a church calling, he remembers the savior and His calling.  He never got a rest as he was suffering for all of us, so my small inkling of a token right now I am more than willing to pay. I really have felt all of your prayers and support. I'm not just saying that, I rely on that.  I know I would not be this healthy and this happy without all of your prayers because It's just not possible. You are all such amazing family members and I'm lucky to be sent to you. Keep working every day to live closer to the spirit, because I know for a fact that's how we become happy, and that is the whole purpose of this life and the next... to feel the same happiness that our Savior is able to feel. So keep preparing for that happiness and keep searching for that happiness. Because it's there. I love you and hope you are all feeling happy and peaceful. I'm grateful for you letters.

Love, Sister Smoot

Week #17 (Sept.15, 2013)

A lot of changes!

Hello Family!

I love you so much. I have really felt your prayers this week as I started training Sister Bahm. She is a really dedicated and hard-working missionary so I am excited to continue learning and continue teaching all of our investigators and ward members. We got to stay in Magsungay Ward so we have a lot of support from the ward since I already have established a relationship and trust with them. It really has been a great blessing.  Sis. Ulusasa and I both started training at the same time so both of our trainees were in the MTC together.  I think it helps them a little bit to have someone they know from before with all of this new stuff added onto it.
This week I have received the gift of tongues. I know that sounds silly to just say it like that, but literally over-night I was able to just have the ability to understand and communicate. My language is obviously not perfect and there are still a lot of words I don’t know, but the drastic change in my comprehension is a miracle that I can only call: The gift of tongues and it was desperately needed.

On Monday night, our Assistants to the President called us and told me that I would be training and that Sister Manosig would be transferring to another stake.  We were sad to say goodbye because we have learned so much from each other, but we knew the change was coming so it wasn’t entirely a surprise.  I had a mini panic attack, but surprisingly – no tears.  I just had to trust in the Lord that He knew what was best for me.  I continued to pray and study about how to receive strength and the Christlike attributes in Preach My Gospel, Faith and Hope.  It really helped me a lot because it focuses on having optimism that everything will work out and having true trust in God that everything we go through is for our benefit.

Then on Tuesday Morning, I received a temporary companion who would be training as well. Since we didn’t meet our new trainees until Thursday morning, me and my temporary companion stayed together for two days. Those were the hardest two days….. ever. Those days were ten times harder than even my first days here in Bacolod.


This temporary Sister and I could not communicate. She came at the same time as Jenna, but she’s from here in the Philippines. She said she speaks a lot of languages, but she barely knew English and I’m 99% sure that she was speaking Tagalog during our lessons. Since we were working in my area, I was supposed to be leading, but there was no real direction about who was the “senior” since it was only for two days. Since she has been here longer, I think she just assumed she would teach most of the lessons, and I would just navigate. With a lack of communication on so many levels, I would start the lessons (since I actually knew the people) and she would take over in a language I didn’t know then look at me after 5 or 10 minutes of just talking.  I was semi-frustrated and I didn’t have the spirit with me at all.  So my language skills were horrendous, I couldn’t even speak Ilonggo half of the time, and everything was coming out choppy and confusing.

Then after a couple of lessons, she looks at me and says, “You’re training this transfer? Do you speak Ilonggo?” I just wanted to cry. I think I did a little, but I just was so overwhelmed with the responsibility already and then to have someone else re-affirm that doubt was just too much at the time. I held it together with a few more rough lessons until that night. Sister Nielsen was staying with us (Jenna’s companion from the MTC). She was companions with Sister Ulusasa. She trained last transfer and is training again this transfer, so she stayed with us for those two days. Since she trained right after her training, I just started asking her a lot of questions and asking her how it works…. She really helped me to calm down and to re-remember the faith I have in the Lord and his decision for me to train. Plus, it was the first time there has been another native-English speaker in the house. It was just what I needed.

That night I just prayed for strength, positivity, and sincere help with the Language (just so I could at least teach the lessons since I would be teaching all of them from now on). We made it through another rough day, and then Thursday morning, my life turned around. I was positive, I had strength, I felt a support and comfort that I was lacking the few days before. I was still a little nervous as we were waiting for our new trainees but just a couple butterflies compared to the nausea I had felt previously.  I could literally feel the Lord qualify me for this “calling.” Not just spiritually, but a physical strength as well. That afternoon me and my new companion, Sister Bahm, went to our first Appointment to Brother Jofrim. (My favorite investigator by the way. He sells these gross looking spiders to little kids to play with. It’s a really popular hobby with the boys who are around 10 years old. I asked him once if the spiders bite and he just answered, “kaisa” (sometimes) haha, I’ll have to tell you the story about how we met next week.)


When I introduced him to my new companion and explained I’m training her, he chuckled a little and pointed at me saying, “You’reTraining?” I just smiled and laughed too and continued on, but for the first time, I understood everything he was saying.  I had confidence, energy, enthusiasm, and most importantly, I felt directed as to what to say, how to say it and what to talk about, and I knew the Ilonggo in order to say it.  I have never in my life relied so wholly upon the Lord and have never in my life received such specific guidance and such a manifestation of a miracle in my life. I’ve definitely felt promptings before and felt help and guidance, but not this specifically. Because I know that that is what I needed at that time. I know I can’t continue to expect that much help for the rest of my mission, because the Lord requires me work and effort too in order to continue to Learn and become better, but I do know that the Power of the Lord is a REAL power that is there right when we need it and when we are living worthily to receive it.  Sometimes, the language is harder than other times, but when it is for the benefit of others, I am able to speak with clarity and fluency and I know that President Lopez has been inspired to create early trainers in order for us to learn how to fully rely on the Lord.

Sister Bahm is a great missionary and I am excited to continue to learn and grow with her. This week I’ve been able to stay continually positive and have so much strength to get everything done. It’s still a lot of work to be the only one teaching and the only one filling out paperwork, but I really have felt physically strengthened.  I’m excited for all of the changes in our mission and I’m excited for the person I’m being molded into.  I love being able to fully communicate and love and serve another Sister Missionary like Sister Bahm, and I know the Lord will help me to help prepare her for when she gets to train too. I’m so excited for this next transfer and the many miracles I know we will be able to see. I love you all and wish you all the best. I continue to pray for you every day!


Love, Sister Smoot