God blesses us when we do our part!

This week was super good… in some ways. We found some good people and we are finding more, so we will be seeing them progress. So, we as missionaries in this ward do a lot. The members... well they are good but we help them a lot with their work. We helped a lady put a roof on her house and it took a lot of time. Some of the members seem to think that we have all the time in the world to do what they want, now don’t get me wrong I love doing service but what I don’t like to do is take the opportunity away from the members because it would bless them.

On the positive side we have been doing family home evenings every week on Friday for the last month and a half and this week a member that was excommunicated brought a friend and this friends name is Juan! He is from Peru and really wants to learn. We taught a to him lesson on Monday and he said that we had a dream that someone taught him the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and then said that it could have been us. He said that he feels like he needs to follow in the church and then his family will follow him. 

We also were a little bummed because of the service we had done and the time we lost... so on Sunday we really wanted to work hard and find some people and teach lessons. So at about 5:45 we were walking in the street and hadn’t had too much success but we were working hard! As we walked in the street I said a short prayer to heavenly father asking that he could bless us with someone because we were trying to do our very best in the work and that we needed motivation. So we went by some guy that we had found a while back and he said that for another day we could come by. Then we knock 4 more houses. Finally, that fourth house, a man came to the door and we talked to him a little and then he asked us to come into his house. We went in and we shared with a family of 5 people!

I know that God answers our prayers but I testify that he won’t bless us when we aren’t doing our part and all that we can. I know that Heavenly father loves us and I know that this is the true church. We can only find true and everlasting happiness through this gospel. 

Also our investigator, Jorge was sick on Saturday and we couldn’t visit him and he really wants to get baptized but we want him to do more of his part so we have been helping him a lot. On Sunday we didn’t think that he was going to come to church then he just showed up. I know that the people that truly have felt the Holy Ghost in their lives testifying that this is the true church, those are the people that will do all they can to complete what God wants. 

I love you all!!

Con mucho Amor 

Elder Smith

God prepares the way!

Well last week was a great week.  It has started making heat again! It’s hot!! We have been working hard and it has been nice!  Last week we were super busy with lots of things to do because not only did we have the normal stuff to do but we also had to do the stuff for my new companion because; well, he is new. Anyway, I will tell you a little more about him. He is a cool dude. He was studying at BYU before the mission for a semester and he will be swimming for the BYU team after. He came to Chile talking super good Spanish but sometimes it’s a little rough for him to understand how the Chileans speak because.... well it’s their own language. He is really ready to work and knows the stuff. We have been able to learn how to teach together and I am super excited because I’m sure he will be killing me, and having him will help me finish strong. 

We had some super good news this week because we have an investigator that wasn’t married and we had planned to help them to prepare to marry. We were going to teach that the following time. But this time we taught about the sacrament. After the lesson, he told us that they were going to get married. This amazed me and really what I felt like crying because I was so happy... but I didn’t. It helped me to know that God prepares the way for the people when we do our part.

I know that God lives and loves us and I know that He wants us to help our brothers and sisters to come to the knowledge of this gospel... and I know that it’s the work of all of us members, not just the missionaries. I know that Joseph Smith restored the gospel and that Jesus lives. I know that this is happiness and it’s the only way to return to God. 

I love you all. 

Con mucho Amor,

 Elder Smith

I have learned a lot!

This week was good! We were able to work a lot but also it was my companions last week here and I think that gave him laziness. Anyway, it was good we were able to pass and visit and teach a good amount of people. We were able to do splits with the members last Tuesday so that we could teach two different families; somehow we set up the appointment at the same time. It was good and we were able to help them a lot. For example, we taught Mario more about prayer and the right way to do it because he didn’t pray to God so we had to teach him. Also, we taught him more about why we are here on the earth and what our purpose is here. It was super good and he understood everything and we were able to invite him to church and he came with his whole family!

Jorge, our other investigator that is progressing well but it’s been hard on him to walk so he hasn’t been able to make it to church but we are still working with ward members so that they can offer to pick him up so he can attend church. 

We also had changes this week and my companion left me after 4 months and I can say that I learned a lot from him and I love him a lot. I was able to learn to be a better missionary and disciple of Christ. But, I know that changes happen for a reason and they are here so that we can progress. Last Wednesday the President called me and told me that I would be training again. So, I have a new companion, his name is Elder Birrell. He is from Seattle!!! I am excited to know that I will be ending my mission training.

I know that this is the true church and that God loves us so much that he gave his Son for us so that we have the chance to return to him again and live with him and our families forever. 

I love you all!!

Cuidense Harto

Con cariño,

 Elder Smith

God knows what we need!

Bueno!

Well this week was good. I think that it probably about killed me though. It’s been weird here, we got some rain and then some cloudy days and then it just hit us fast with really hot weather. I think that kills me because I was waaaaay tired. Well this week was like the week of vacations and nobody was home and I guess they also didn’t want to accept us. But it’s all good we had some good experiences. 

Our investigator Jorge is doing good but he struggles with getting to church because he is sick with his legs and can’t walk good and on top of that he doesn’t want a member to come get him in a car. He is stubborn but he really is gaining a testimony and his plan was to get baptized this Sunday but we will have to see if it all works out. 

Another investigator is named Mario, he is doing good. We had an awesome lesson with a member the other day with him and we talked about how he can’t progress if he doesn’t ask God in a prayer if what we say is true. He said we would pray that night and we told him that we were going to pass by the next day to follow up and see what his answer was. So, he got un answer saying that it’s the right path and that he needs to continue and he also has the desire to attend church which is awesome so this week he will be coming to church with us. 

Last Friday we had followed our plans and they had failed us so we were a little bummed and then we decided to do some contacts. We started knocking a street and from there we arrived at a door that I will never forget. We knocked (or in this case we yelled because that’s how you do it here in Chile) and a young dude with about 25 years came out and talked to us. At first he didn’t want to let us pass into the house and then we started talking. My companion said that through the message that we share he could know why there are so many churches... right then and there he asked "Why are there so many churches"? Soo when we first got to this house I started to feel the spirit so strong and really I hadn’t ever felt it so strong like I did when I was doing contacts. This amazed me and I was stunned because I didn’t understand why I was feeling it so strong. Okay, so after he had asked the question we answered and then he opened up and invited us in. We went in and shared with him and we came to find out that he had been looking for God for a while mostly, because he was changing his life around. This has helped me understand that God truly helps people find their way back to him. If we hadn’t been doing what we needed to be doing we would have never found him. Now we have plans to visit him this week and I know that for some reason God wanted us there when we got there.

I know that God lives and I know that Jesus Christ lives and that only through him we can have eternal life. Now let us all continue to turn to him always looking for help because he knows what we need and when we look and ask we will find what we need. 

I love you all!!

Con mucho Amor,

Elder Chase Smith