Wk 13- Maayong Gabi!! :) (that's good evening)

Ok so this week has been good!! ASHLEY IS IN MY ZONE!! I haven't seen her yet but I'll see her on Wednesday at Zone Conference. :) and I haven't gotten my package yet.. I'm not sure where it's at or what she did with it. I haven't gotten any packages yet... but it may just take longer. Sige, so I will try the day by day thing again :)

Monday was p day, but that night my lola came!! (grandma) my nanay's nanay!! or trainer's trainer :) haha Her name is sister Maputi which means white in hiligaynon so we put on her tags and took pictures :) haha because we are white! :) It's really funny when we see other American's here. But sister maputi went home and because we are so close she stayed and worked with us monday night then left the next morning. :)

Tuesday, Bishop Pioquinto and his wife worked with us! And I learned that they have different words in Hiligaynon if the rice is cooked, if it's not cooked and if it's overcooked. There may be a few more too and I wrote them down and still need to memorize those ones. :) haha 

Wednesday, I went to the hospital with my companion to visit Marlin and her son, Kurt, who has pneumonia. Different experience but good :) It's incredible seeing these people and their faith through things :) I love it!

Thursday... I can't remember much my days blend together... 

Friday, We went to teach a family out of our area that is a family of sisters, but now there's sisters there instead of elders, so i think they will now take them :) Sad, because they are so sweet, We only visited them twice. Hopefully they progress because they would be incredible!! They would still be in our ward. We have instead of two sisters and two elders in our ward we have 5 sisters. The other sisters are a trio now. There are 2 trainees from Ashley's batch in the trio. So crazy how many sisters are here! 20 sisters came on Wednesday!! 

Saturday, oh well I learned that sometimes people just shower in the open the night before. That's all I will say. I also learned how incredible the spirit is and how much it truly helps people understand and grasp what we are teaching them. We have Raffy back and he hadn't remembered much from the Restoration when we taught him, but now he actually understands what a prophet is and who Joseph Smith is! It was incredible when it just clicked!! I love the spirit! And I know that only through the spirit that can happen! :) We also had taught a family and the dad was drunk when he came home. It was a different lesson then I've ever taught. He liked to talk a lot. :) Wonderful family though!! I love them to death!! 

Sunday, oh wow!! Sunday!! We had 12 investigators at church!! It was crazy!! And 305 attendance which is a record. Each week, it keeps growing. We barely have room in there and last week we tried to open the back but the kids go play in the gym, so i'm not sure what's going to happen, but it keeps growing each week!! :) They don't have an overflow here like they do at home. We also have Reyboy who is an incredible missionary!! We didn't even count the 9 little boys in the 12 investigators that he brought to church. He's not even a member yet, but he's incredible!! He's still trying to realize the testimony he has, but I know that he will and he has changed so much!! We also have JohnPaul who I am starting to see just glow as he lets the gospel into his life and slowly does less and less cigarettes each day!!

This is so the true church and I am so grateful for it!! :) I am so happy I am a missionary!! I love it so much!! I love helping the people here!! Oh and last night we taught a lesson to BRGY 20 (which JohnPaul is there) and we had sister Marlin's house full of people. The spirit was so strong!! I understood most of what my companion was saying and it was a really random lesson, we can't really remember what we said, but I know we were guided by the spirit to say whatever we did and I know it will help them, if they listen to what they felt! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! :)

I love you family!! Thank you for all that you do for me!! :) I truly am grateful for each an every one of you and to be Sister Smoot is wonderful!! Can't wait to see the other Sister Smoot!! :)

Love me, Sister Jenna Smoot :)

Wk 12- wow!! what a week! :)

Family!!

(Jenna is answering quite a few questions we asked, so I thought I'd better put the questions in so it made sense!)

*noticed you had training this week? (the mission president posts pics on facebook!)- but you were missing in some of the pics? were you late?!:

 haha the training we were right on time for.. but then i had to go to the bathroom... we got told to go to a gate that the ap's always go through and they wouldn't let us through so we had to walk like clear around and it was kind of funny :) president's clock on his wall is like 10 minutes ahead. but they started while i was in the bathroom :) I wasn't hiding from the camera... we smiled for some pictures :) 

At the training, we just talked about our vision and cleared up some rules, because they've been changing so much. We also talked about how we can make our studies better and companionship studies better. :) He also wants us to step up because they're are a whole lot of missionaries coming in and we will be done training after this next transfer! That scares me, but I know the lord will do whatever he needs to with me and I will be able to handle it! He just said that to scare us a little I think. But It is transfer week, so that's crazy! I've already been here as long as I was in the MTC!! Time seems to fly but still feels like forever! It's a weird feeling! 

*We had to put down our horse JJ this week- we've had him for almost 15 years!:

I am so happy JJ is free from his pain!! He's incredible and I know dad did the right thing for him :) I'm proud of him! We will all miss him but he will be with us again one day :) I'm grateful to have been able to have him as a horse! :) He's incredible!! And when I get home dad, I want to learn better how to saddle up horses and stuff sige? :) How's Princess doing?? and how's Dolly and Dusty? and April?? I love that we have animals and they are in the conditions they are in! :) Animal's here, usually stray but they aren't in the best conditions. They look better than the one picture we were shown for the most part, but they still are sad. I love them though! 

JADE!!! YOU HIT A HOMERUN!!! SOO PROUD OF YOU!!! AHHH!!! :) YAY!!! GO JADERS!!! (that was me cheering when you hit it) I LOVE YOU!! :) and Tayton got a job before jade? haha that's funny :) but cool!! That's awesome!! :) 

Anyways, my weeks been good!! This week I feel like me and my companion have been straight led by the spirit!! It's incredible!! We found a less active yesterday and found out missionaries haven't taught him in 3 years! I don't even know what all to tell you! All I know is that if you are exactly obedient and do your best to be the best you can be, miracles seriously do happen and I love it!! :) it's incredible!! :) 

This week... well a fire truck was outside of BRGY 20 and I found out their electricity doesn't shut off here if something goes wrong... that's why we always have to unplug everything when it's not being used. Anyways, it led us to contact a referral we had received who was taught before but it's been a while. It's also kinda crazy the different things people think about our religion, but it's awesome to help them really understand! :) I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! :)

*She sent home her ipod because her mission president doesn't allow them, I asked if she missed music, if she wanted any sheet music, or if she could ever hear the song that Candace wrote that she sang before she left:

I do miss music, but i know we aren't suppose to have it for a reason, if we were, it wouldn't be against the rules for it. We get use to it. Sometimes, since my companion is also a singer, we will sing around the apartment, but then we always sing songs we shouldn't so we start singing oh Babylon oh babylon we bid the farewell! Because we are only suppose to sing hymns :) Which I have shared the words of those songs with my comp and am super sad i can't sing them :( but i don't know! I would love to hear the song, but i don't know how!  I may be able to get permission to hear it, because I want to really bad!! Maybe different arrangements of hymns would be good sheet music?? 

*Do you eat 3 meals a day? by yourselves? or with others?:

Most the time it's by ourselves and yes we do eat 3 meals a day. Somedays we will eat dinner late, but no we usually schedule it in and come home and eat or eat at someones house, but it's only been a few times that we eat at someone's house. Now we have a new family, the Analucas family, that everytime we go there we eat something. Last night we were going to just eat dinner late, but we ended up eating at their house they fed us isdo (fish), but i can't remember the ilonggo name for it but it's milk fish!! :) It was really good!! it had little bones but it tasted like chicken a little but super good!! and they were helping me eat with my hands, that with rice and soy sauce is huge here!! Super good!! OH!! I LOVE THE FOOD! :) Don't worry.. I eat enough :) I'm trying not to eat too much :) They always offer us pamahaw (snack). always!! and yes i do better somedays with water and healthiness, but other days are rough. it just depends :) I promise I'm good though!! :)

*Do you use your converter (since she sent home her blow dryer, curling iron, etc):

The converter i use to plug in my camera and that's it and it's only sometimes.. but my companion doesn't use one she took a chance plugged in her camera and it didn't do anything... but i'm a little scared too..

*Ashley (Jenna's cousin) gets to the same mission this week! Will you be able to see her?:

My guess is I won't see her... but I don't know for a fact... It's very strict here I'm scared to ask anything. 

*Do you still go running every day? How does the heat affect you?:

The running is good... I want to go a lot more than my companion does. She doesn't like running at all. It's not bad when we do cuz we don't go far and it's ok while you're running, but when you stop I start sweating so I start like swimming in my sweat, but we usually just hurry and take turns in the shower so it's not bad. 

*you have 3 beds in your bedroom? Do you have a closet?:

I sleep on the bottom bunk... haha My comp sleeps on the mattress on the big bed.. don't ask me why there's an extra mattress... it was like that when i got here. I think they may have used it on the floor once for departing missionaries then just threw it up on the bed?? but i don't know. We just have little cupboard like things for our closets i'll take a picture next time :)

*you walk everywhere? What stores do you have close?:

. we just walk to where we need to go it's not too bad :) I don't know.. we don't go to that many stores. We go to lopues which is groceries and clothes and everything else and upstairs they have bowling which we have done :) it's fun! 

Well! I hope i answered your questions!! That took a while! haha :) I love you!!! :)

Love, Sister Smoot

Sister Smoot sent pictures :)

Sister Smoot sent a letter with a stack of printed pictures.  I scanned them in so that everyone could see them. I'm glad we don't have to do laundry like she is doing. :)

Japorm, Charlie, and Sis. Smoot

Sis Sanders, Sis Smoot, and Charlie - First Baptism

We got fruit

First time doing laundry

Where we eat!

Our bedroom

Sis Smoot, Laura, Sis Sanders - We worked with Laura & still do sometimes - She's in our ward and is 19, and a member of our Stake Presidency's daughter.  She's working on her mission papers.

We went to drop off Laura one night and they invited us to eat dinner. Laura took the picture.

Kaylee sent a greenie package - loved the masks!

My first meal in Bacolod - Pancit
(We were wondering why the 7-up  wasn't clear)

Bucket Showers outside the Pres. house - Elders use these

Eggs in a nest in the Pres. backyard.

Going to Bacolod - Sis Smoot, Sis Sefetti, and Sis Roos

Trees - love them!

Elder Stagg on the plane - I gave him my pillow and he was gone

Elder Vanwagoner on the plane

Elders - Manilla to Bacolod

Our hotel in Manilla - We each got our own bed

TV in Manilla hotel

Heading to the hotel in Manilla- I rode shotgun!

My MTC Comp - Met back up in Tokyo

Sisters - Manilla to Bacolod

We are in Tokyo!

We went the wrong way, so we went back :)

We went through this hall at the airport, it was sweet

My travel group - Elder Vanwagoner, Elder Stagg, Sis Smoot, and Sis Sefetti

On the plane - Sis Smoot and Sis Safetti

Wk 11- another week in the field!! :)

Family!! :)

The mission is a roller coaster but it is truly rewarding!! I love it so much!! :) 

Monday... We had a family home evening with a soon to be returned less active sister and her 2 kids. We also had 2 sister training leaders because we live so close to where everyone meets at the church so they stayed with us monday night before their training on tuesday which was fun. It was different having Philippino sisters with us but it was fun! :) 

I can't remember every day but that was a different day :) haha Raffy one of our investigators that was really interested suddenly moved to Manilla a couple days ago, so that was kind of a sudden change. But we taught a few more first lessons and just trying to progress our investigators and do our best to be obedient! :) it's incredible the little blessings we are blessed with everyday and the miracles we see in people. Rayboy is a new investigator. We've taught him twice now and he went to a YSA activity on fridayand came to church early on sunday!! Which is incredible! Usually investigators don't come until the 2nd or 3rd hour (philippino time is worst then mormon standard time) but sacrament meeting is last here in our ward. but Rayboy came early for church and he shared about something we did in gospel principles and is just so happy! After he came up and asked when he could be baptized. Sister Sanders told him a date, but we would need to teach him more to make sure and then she asked why he wanted to be baptized and he said because this church is different. He's someone who hasn't had the best life and wasn't doing the best things and now he wants to change! It's incredible seeing the people who are truly ready for the gospel and how they just get put into our path for us to find them. He's 19 years old and already has incredible faith. (we did ask him to be baptized before but he was kind of confused but he said he would if he found out it was true... this was before sunday) 

Anyways, i hope that made sense! but it has been a good kinda weird but good week :) Missionary work is truly incredible! It's incredible how your faith can work!! :) If you have faith and pray anything is possible with Heavenly Father if it is his will. He has a plan for all of us and I know he will be there for each and every one of you if you just turn to him! He is there to comfort you and he is your father. I honestly didn't realize how close he truly is until I ended up on a mission. He loves each of us!

The food here is actually really good, we don't eat out much, but when we do i really like it! It's a lot of meat and rice, and now i crave it sometimes. I love it so much! :) Me and my companion mainly make chicken and we've made mashed potatoes by hand this week (legit ones) and they were really good!! Sister Sanders is really good at making up things! Let me tell you! But she makes philippino dishes for me without the rice. She makes Sinigong (veggies which are different here and either chicken or pork usually chicken for us with a sinigong mix), Adobo, and Chicken Tinolaand. (not how you spell them, but they are good) They pretty much all have different veggies with meat of some sort i get them all mixed up but they are all delicious! 

My house i just live with my companion. It's just a one bedroom apartment and it's got 2 desks for study a table to eat and a little kitchen. It's just like an apartment. I sent some pictures home of our bedroom and table i think, but not everything... I'm in our bathroom when you get the pictures when i'm doing laundry. It's really cute! it has a locked gate and our door is locked so it's pretty safe where we are at and we are upstairs in back last apartment and the only other people upstairs are the owners they are super sweet and no they aren't members if you were wondering. 

And my Hiligaynon is slowly coming. Sometimes it will click and sometimes it struggles, but i can speak english sometimes too just depends on who it is and how much english they know. They tend to know english more if they went or go to school because they have books and learn in english and sometimes tagalog, but it will come :) i keep getting told that i'm doing very well and i just need to study and keep having faith that it will come :)

I don't know if i'll see ashley she will be at our church because that's where they go their first day, but i can't go there just to see her. I think it's against the rules, but we'll see i'll let you know, because it is like down the street from our apartment. 

Here's our Elders in our districts names... Johnson, Pulsipher, Dulalia, Gonzala, Mifflin, Dy. 

I hope i answered all your questions!! I love you all!! :) Keeping being the best you can be and never forget to turn to the Lord!! :)

Love, Sister Smoot

Wk 10- AY WOW!!! :) (eye wow is how you say it)

Family!!!

Oh wow! I love you all :) I'm so grateful for your courage and support while i'm out here! It helps :) 

ok so I have written in my journal this week but i can't remember which day is what and time is going so fast, so I will write about a couple things that happened this week. :)

This week we thought we were doing so good!! And then yesterday, we had one investigator that doesn't have time for us to teach him or come to church. haha It's kinda funny how investigators go on the same swings. We had 9 investigators at church last week and they decided to stop. We are doing our best to not get down on ourselves about it all though because we have the lord on our side and we can keep going!! :)

yesterday, Charlie got confirmed!! :) YAY!!! :) A recent convert, Esmael, was so excited for him! and Charlie was super excited!! :) We also had something I'd never seen before, child blessings. There were 5 yesterday!! All different ages, but older then a normal blessing. Marlin's 2 youngest children, Gillian and Kurt were blessed and recieved names! It was way good :) Gillians said she'd be a missionary!! :) Marlin's a recent convert! She just got baptized before I got here. We teach BRGY 20 at hear house all the time :) They are truly incredible people with the strongest testimonies! :) AH! I love them all!!

The people here are the reason I am here! They are people who want to (even if they don't know it yet) come closer unto Christ!! :) They truly do!

One of our investigators is an interesting one, but so fun! His name is Raffy! He is the one that has an incredible voice and his son did a tv show competition with his singing! His son is 7! It was truly incredible! I felt like I was watching like Britain's got talent when he sang! But Raffy is the dad and has coached him and everything! But he is a 7th day Adventist and I'm not sure much about that religion but they keep the Sabbath day holy so he liked that an he likes that we have the king james version of the bible :) He is super interested and wants to know everything about the Book of Mormon before he decides to be baptized!! But he's not married just lives with his 

wife and has 2 kids. The 7 year old and a baby who's i think 2 months old. But he is so interested so we took him to a baptism on sat. He keeps asking if it's bad to be baptized again, but we explain about the authority and everything, but he's still thinking :) He's incredible though and i can just see his potential and his interest! It's so cool! :) We took him to a baptism on saturday and it confused him a little, but he likes the idea of families being together forever! But he's incredible and I know he is a son of God and if he prays sincerely he will find out the truth :) 

Well That's a couple of our investigators! I love you all so much!! I miss you too, but i wouldn't want to be anywhere else!! This is the best place for me right now and I am going to enjoy it while I'm here! 

I can't believe I'm a missionary for my Father in Heaven and being a representative of Jesus Christ is the best thing that could ever happen to me!!  I love being a missionary!! Thank you for everything mom and dad and family!! :) I love you all so much!! :) 

Love, Sister Smoot :)

A few questions we asked this week:

questions: -more about the chicken house from last week:  yes the chicken house is a restaurant it's super cute and good :) i like it! -more about the baptism last week (Charlie):  they were teaching charlie when i got here :) before i got here he was baptist and didn't really want to change, but he gained a testimony and changed a ton! He is so strong! I love him! he stands up for himself and for him being baptized too! He's incredible! AH! the people here are amazing! :) -do you have a flushing toilet? (alot do not!):  I do in my apartment right now... i've gone to the bathroom on toilets that you dump a bucket of water down them to flush and i'm trying to master that one still :) -did you figure out if the cafe has a virus scanner so you can send pictures?:  I will try and ask if i have enough time at the end of today :)   (she never has time!) -how good is your deodorant working?: I don't notice a ton. I just sweat all over or I'm by a fan so I'm good!