World Service Day

We  had a zone conference on Wednesday, in the morning and we didn't get back until 630 in the night. Then the next day was the 11 of September and that is a day of crap so we had to enter in our house at 6.  Saturday was World Service Day for the church so we painted a town... or like the main street and all the houses and stores on it. It was super cool. We didn't have too many lessons but we had one with this lady that I had contacted last week and it was super awesome. She said she is so confused why we have a new day every day and she had gone through some rough things in her life... she was raped when she was young and now her son that is 8 was recently raped... as my mom would say "people are messed up." It's been so good, on our second visit she was so much happier and she had read the Book of Mormon. We  talked about baptism and she has a date now. I know that if we keep listening to the spirit and teach what she needs she will be baptized.

I've felt so much different in the mission now.. I feel like I was born here and my life before was a dream.  It's so crazy how much love we can have for these people in the short amount of time. 

I know this is true... why would I be here in Chile if it weren't. I feel it in my heart every day and that is what keeps me going!

Love you guys!! Thanks peace out until next week... if I live... it's the 17th and that's like the 4th of July down here but it's a little crazier!!

Really missing that slack line of his...

                                  

20 MESES MAS!!!

This last week was wonderful. Right after we got done with p-day a none active family's house burnt down and we have been helping rebuild their house so..... that's awesome. I truly felt their pain when we were at the house... or what was left of it.. I didn't know what to do my heart was full of sadness and I just wanted to cry because I'm a baby now. All I wanted to do was help and there was nothing we could do in that moment. This last week the barrio has really come together and have been helping a lot. The lady that lived there, she is a member but she never had a testimony of the Book of Mormon, she was only baptized because her  husband. So she had been asking for an answer physically to know the Book of Mormon is true and she had been reading a different book for a different religion. Weird, she hadn't gotten an answer because she wasn't reading the Book of Mormon... But her other book and Book of Mormon were next to each other in the fire. The other book had burnt... like gone and the Book or Mormon  was still there.. It's crazy what kind of answers we can receive when we have the right amount of faith.

This week I have learned it is necessary to love the language and love Chile and I have been asking for help for that because its really hard to love it here sometimes because well its not like great old Utah!!! 

That's this week. Love you all and keep smiling!

we hiked.... well took a taxi to the top of this hill called San Cristobel and that was cool... went to a mall because someone needed new shoes and we ate McDonalds.... haha and now just writing my you.

 He said he didn't know I was there...Its my car...wish I was there visiting!

Este Semana

Well this week has gotten better....  we didn't find any new people but we had some great lessons. We have been talking to this lady... named Laddy and she is super cool she just tells us she wants to get baptized and she wants this change in her life.

Another family finally came to church, I asked  them if we could just pass by in the morning and walk with  them??? Well it worked and they came... that's the family in the picture! 

So, I've been praying for some more help in knowing my objective more fully as a missionary and I got a pretty strong answer.  The sisters in our district had a baptism on Sunday and we all went and sang I love to look for rainbows.. but in Spanish.  I had this super strong feeling that was just telling me like, look you idiot the answer is right here in this baptism!! Sorry I can't explain it better but it was super awesome. 

My Spanish is getting better with time and when I look back to my very first day in the CCM life is crazy because I had no idea what the people were saying in that place and now I kinda do... ha but miracles do happen!! 

love you all!! keep smiles on your faces at all times!!!

It's a Mission, it doesn't get easier we just get stronger!

Okay this week was well, it was a better week but at the same time its a mission and it doesn't get easier we just get stronger.  I always think the mission is getting better and then something happens and I feel sad or I just don't know exactly why I am out here. The end of this week I have felt this emptiness inside of me and I don't know what it is I have been praying so much and sometimes I feel like I pray too much and that God is tired of hearing the same thing from me but I really needed some help because I don't like feeling this way.
I have to push my companion a lot for us to be looking for more people because we have like 2 investigators and they are wonderful but we need to always be finding more. I am learning humility a lot and I honestly have to pray so much to keep going some times. There are some missionaries that are always talking about home and I hate it because they have three months more in their missions and I have only three months into my mission. I have realized how grateful I am for all my family and friends I have had some seriously good examples and my life has been impacted from it!!

I love you guys and wish you the best!!

(This is what he said regarding his back... better. haha they gave me pills and my back feels lots better. I have an exam on my back this Saturday so I'll let you know how that goes. Seriously it's not a big deal because my p blessing says that I am going to do some things in my mission and those things haven't happened yet so I wont be getting sent home. )

(This was his reply when I asked if he felt the earthquake...yes it was big... 6.3 I was in my house the 4th story of the building... ahhaha I don't like them that much.)

First week with Elder Lopez!

Well this week was my hardest week I have had out in the mission field! Sometimes as missionaries we forget that the mission isn't suppose to be easy. To be honest I thought it was only spiritually rough. But after this week I have felt that it is rough on our bodies and brains and spiritualness. I have been truly humbled and I have felt the Saviors love in my life and I know how I can be strong from now on! When I heard Hunter (my cousin) was having a hard time in his mission I felt the need to tell him to keep pushing and going... but I was hypocritical because this last week it was super hard for me to do that. All I wanted to do was to give up. I felt like I couldn't talk to my companion and I felt like there was no one else around to help, I felt lost. BUT then I opened my mouth. I talked to my companion and I kept talking I told him how I felt and just let everything out. Seriously felt great... on top of that he reminded me that we are weak! but through God we are powerful!!

Earlier today he showed me a Mormon message called la expiacion y obra missional... I don't know it in English but it was strong. It helped me remember that we are only feeling 01 percent of what Christ went through. As missionaries we have two years... yes it looks long but its not. It goes by fast and with what time we have we need to press forward and every night we get home we should collapse to the floor because of how hard we worked. 

I know that God lives and he loves us..... yes sometimes he gives us some challenges to accomplish but God also gives us a way around it... or through it to make it easier. We need to all remember that through God and his son Jesus Christ we can accomplish any mountain!

I love you all!! thank you so much for all you love and support. 

Peace ya gringos!!!

Chase is okay. His back has been hurting him and his President wanted him to be checked out!

I don't know where I am but I'm in the city now!

I didn't expect anything to happen to me this week. I thought that I was staying with my companion in Colina!!  But...I have left and am in the city now. ha I have  no idea where I am and what it's called but seriously time fly's!! I never thought I would be this far in my mission. After all my training I will have close to 5 months into this crazy adventure. Okay so I have a new companion and he is Latino.... so I'm pretty much forced to talk Spanish!! heck yeah!! but I'm seriously so excited for this.. it was super rough leaving because I loved the people and I just wanted to keep helping in that area but the Lord wanted me some where else. I  sent some pictures of the people and families I was close with. I don't have much to say this week because it felt like it dragged on because it was the last week for that change. Our investigator in Colina, Luiz is doing great he seriously is going to be so good in the church!! I am bummed that I am not going to be there for his baptism!!  I am starting to see why the mission is so special and I am loving it. Everywhere we get sent we make it our home and it's hard to leave every time and it's because we love the people and just want the best for all of them!! 

  Hope you are all doing good!!! love you all!!

God works in mysterious ways!

Okay so this week we had some good stuff happen. First  I found out that the lady that I baptized said that she chose me because she said the first time she saw me she knew i was going to baptize her.... well I'm  creeped out by this but at the same time I guess its cool. hahah who knows. because she talks a lot about how after our missions we should just stay here and do our studies in Chile. pffff hahaha this lady is crazy because she obviously doesn't know what Logan/Utah is like.

Next, our new investigator his name is Luiz!! he seriously is great. Our second time visiting him he had read 12 chapters in the Book of Mormon and then on top of that he explained it to me!! seriously it was awesome. then he came to church yesterday and was with us all three meetings and at the end of priesthood they were asking for volunteers for a service project and he volunteered himself!!! WOW!!!

We also had an awesome family home evening with so many people seriously everyone was crying and the spirit was with us so much!!! We showed the Mormon message Mountains to Climb!! Look it up its a good one!!

So last week we had talked to some guy and he wanted us to go to his house and teach to him and he gave us his address and then we told him we would pass by..... so a couple days latter we passed by and it wasn't the guys house it was this nice old lady that let us in right away and then she wanted to hear our message and she told us that she has read the book of Mormon a couple times before and that her daughter was LDS!! seriously God does work in mysterious ways!! 

It's been a hot week!!! I seriously hate clothes I wish I could walk around naked... or I guess now just in my g´s that's naked for us Mormons!!!

The last thing is that I had seafood..... yuck!!! I thought I was going to die!!! like clams and stuff... I thought I found a pearl for a second but it wasn't.

Entonces that's all for this week!! I love you all and I wish you all the very best. keep smiling people of America!! or Utah!!!

Elder Chase Smith


Pictures from an outing with Chase's district up to the Ande's

 paint from a service project