Week 70 (September 18, 2017)

Play as a zone! Futbol (soccer) and skits and lunch at a restaurant  called TAKE!

Conference with Elder OAKS!!! So amazing!! 

Our whole mission went and so I also saw hermann Richardson (my comp in the CCM!) which I haven't seen in 6 months! I also saw my daughter and my granddaughter!!! So fun :)

Zone Conference with President Godfrey! :)

The door or a members house haha

Wow this week was amazing! because we had the AMAZING opportunity to shake hands with and hear from an apostle, ELDER OAKS!!! On Wednesday morning we left as a zone in a rented bus and met our mission at the church right next to the area offices and the MTC in Lima and as the assitant to president led us to our seats in the chapel, we were led to the very. front. row!! we were so excited but also maintaining our reverence in the church haha.  Well there ended up being almost 600 missionaries, with 3 different missions.  (lima west, lima central, and us lima north)   We should hands with Elder Oaks, his wife, Bishop Cuesse the presiding bishop who also spoke, and some other people. All 3 of our mission presidents spoke too.  It was so amazing and they talked about how repentance isnt just for unworthy people to become worthy (short gap) but for worthy people to become perfect! (huge gap to perfection)  and so as we repent everyday all day becoming better coninually, god will help us live happier better lives, becomeing closer to god every day also as we partake of the sacrament weekly.  It was so good and the spirit was so strong! He also talked about praying with real intent, how we must teach our investigators that  they cant just ask god if the book of mormon is true, but with real intent, means they are actually going to act upon there anwser. Like ''God, if you tell me if this church is true, I will follow, and become baptised'' and how its not just for our investigators, but for us too. to recieve anwsers to prayers!  We learned so much and I will never forget the spirit felt there.

It was also so fun to see Hna Richardson, Hna Velasques (my daughter in the mission) and my grandaughter! (her daughter) and so many people i havent seen in forever.

We also had zone conference this  week with president godfrey and hna godfrey made homemade peanut butter cookies for everyone. SO GOOD.

And my comp and I also talked in church!! a little nerve racking because they were 10 and 15 min talks but it was about missionary work and with preparation, everything went smoothly, and it was my first talk where I didnt read word for word entirely. so I thought it went ok :)

We did have a cool experience this week. We were on our way to an appointment and passed by this man sitting outside his house. Jose Mattos. We asked him if he liked to read etc and explained about the book of mormon. Well, he ended up being related to this really faithful member family that lives in my companions old area. He couldnt really talk in that moment, so we set another appointment and went with a member at taught lesson 1 and invited him to church using 5 reasons why he should go to church our president taught us. and on sunday, HE CAME TO CHURCH!! We were so excited and later we passed by his house to see how things went, and he had read the book of mormon! 3 Nefi 11 and now he is going to pray about it. It was such a tender mercy from the last week and I am pretty sure we had all those difficulties from our other investigators so that we could appreciate more when we do have successes. 

We are also working with Katerine, who listened to missionaries when she was really little but never got baptized. Now she is 20 and came to church this week! we invited her to be baptised, but she wants to be more sure before she accepts. So we asked her, When you come to know that the book of mormon is true, and that this really is the church of Jesus christ, will you follow the example of Jesus christ and be baptist? and she said YES! She wants to be apart of this church, but she just wants to be more sure before she accepts a date. which is totally fine and we are going to be patient, but persistant with her.

but i know this church is true!! I know that god really does anwser prayers!! I love you all and I am so greatful for all your support!

Love, Hna Smoot

Have a beautful week!