Wk 47 - What a week!!

Area: San Carlos
Companion: Sister Lara

Sister Lara & Sister Smoot at
Saturday District conference meeting

This week has been kind of a rough week. We have gotten turned down so many times! (i didn't know philippinos could turn people down) but 2 times we've been told not to come back this week, because they are their religion, so it's pointless for us to come back. Then the person who was interviewed last sunday for baptism last saturday told us fridaynight that he had doubt and didnt want to be baptized. So he dropped out and then our baptism next saturday told us on saturday that her mom didn't give her permission which she lives with her lola and her mom is in bacolod and her lola who will also be baptized on march 8.

Anyways, on the bright side our baptism this saturday is on still :) she talked with her mom and sister lara did too over the phone and she said ok, now that she has a little understanding. Then the little girl said she didn't want to anymore because she thought she had to confess her sins if she was baptized or something and then we told her to pray and then she came and said i want to be baptized. This was all within saturday night and sunday. So we got interviewed sundayand will be baptized on saturday. She is 8 and is amazing! Her name is Abigal :) I am excited for her! So that helped our week end a little better :)

Other than that, we are slowly trying to help our investigators progress and come to church. They are all doing pretty good but some that we thought were really progressing didn't come to church yesterday for what we saw but one that doesn't want to be baptized came to church with our recent converts but sister said he's done that before. so i guess we will see what happens :) Hopefully we can talk to our canitate, JR, to see if we can help him again want to be baptized (he was suppose to be baptized saturday) but anyways, its been a week of fighting against Satan.

I do want to testify though of fasting. I fasted saturday just for some miracle to happen because we were turned down so many times and now abigal turned around and is getting baptized and her mom accepted and everything! So amazing!! :) I love this work here and how many little miracles happen each day.

Thank you for everything you do! I look forward to a good week this week :) Have a wonderful week and Happy Birthday to DAD!! Love him so much :)

Love, Sister Smoot

At the Sunday session of District Conference

..with an investigator

The choir that sang at the District conference

(Answers to my questions:)

(your new apt.)

in this apartment we have rats. we don't use the upstairs there's a ton of rats we hear them all the time and they sometimes get into our garbage. we have cockroaches like crazy and mosquitoes i'm getting bitten again but am trying my best not to be even with bug repellant the get me. but i'll keep putting it on.

(need a new memory card?)

i don't know... i think i am ok i think i still have a couple more. i'm good for now though but i do have another full memory card i want to send home maybe i cna give it to sister sinema again to put in her package so it's safer.

(who is regie that got baptized: Angela (fromBata)posted it)

regie is her exboyfriend in manila haha he did come and i met him and he continued teaching in manila and got baptized. She highered her expectations of a boy she wants to marry and next thing i know he's coming to visit and has a baptismal date. haha the elders taught him while he was in bata

(valentine's day?)

they all wear red haha... no just kidding. not really anything special everyone works here always no matter what holiday. but we did get a gift from recent converts :) cute! they weren't baptized while i was here though but the are a cute family :)

(do you have a view of the ocean- or sea?)

if we walk to a certain area yes we have a view in our area and there's a little island too that's in our branch but the elders have that area you have to take a little boat to it but i didn't take a picture i didn't have my camera with me. but it's a little different. we aren't in a subdivion but we do have a gate :) it's a cute house with two huge mirrors inside!

(the dress you're wearing on the sunday district conference-and you both match in your orange!)

i got that dress for 150 pesos at an okai okai (thrift stores here) and yes our favorite colors are orange. she changed before we went there so i was dressed first ;)    (150 pesos= $3.36)

They rented a truck to bring members to the Conference

Wk 46- SAN CARLOS!

Area: San Carlos
Companion: Sister Lara

This week has been really good. I know for a fact we have been called of God and he loves us so much. We have had little miracles happen this week that are amazing! I love being here! I was super sad to leave Bata, but I know and am excited to serve here in San Carlos. 

My companion is Sister Lara, She is from Davao city (i don't know how to spell it) but she is incredible! She is a convert from the church when she was baptized when she was 18 years old and is just always happy, smiles and so bright. She will hit a year on March 15 and will be 25 on March 13 :) She is also going home in september. She arrived the batch before me :) She is an incredible missionary and I am so excited to continue to serve with her.

We've had little miracles happen and one i will just tell you about real quick because i don't have a tone of time. (mom wrote me two letters and i read the one i was suppose to print out first oops sorry) but we have a member who has a less active son and we had an appointment close to them we walked by her and said hi and went to go to our appointment that we had. Nobody was home so then we went and OYM'd a family and then returned and the wife was home but the husband who we'd scheduled an appointment with wasn't, but we shared just short to his wife and then when we were leaving we had a little bit of time and Sister Lara stopped and said lets go back to this member. We did and we finally met her son which i guess they'd been trying to meet for a while. But he's a working student providing for his family (which rarely happens here if you are in school you don't work but their father has passed away) but we sang with them and he was almost in tears and his mom bawled and bore a testimony that was amazing! The spirit was so strong. no he didn't come to church he had class at 10 but i know that one day he will be able to come back and want to come back. 

I love the little miracles that happen each day and i now if we trust in the lord he will ALWAYS be there for us to help us. I love this gospel and love this work. JADE, YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE YOUR MISSION. Never let the hard times get you too far down because like everyone says, there are times that make up for it and it's truly incredible!! Just continue!! :)

I love you all family and am so grateful for your missionary work and so happy you had the missionaries! Love them support them and help them be successful in their work. :) Love you all!! :)

love, Sister Smoot

the boy is our baptism. but we haven't taught him since i've been here. she said they schedule times to teach him at the church. He's 18 and is amazing! i loved his testimony :) 

(other answers about new area):

it's wonderful! haha my apartment i forgot to take pictures of our apartment but i will and the other pictures i took won't load. so we'll see what i can do it won't register that i have plugged in a card. it's really pretty we are on the edge by the sea.

my companion is amazing! so happy! we both go home in september. Her birthday is march 13 she hits a year on march 15my birthday march 16 and a year on the 27. cool huh!! haha she is a convert and is amazing! She is from Davau City. She's so happy and amazing! I'm making her speak english  this week :) haha She is very talkative unless she trys in english she always slips into cebuano or english but i love her to death!! i love it! :) 

yes i am in san carlos 2B is our area we are with the zone leaders in this branch. 

yes the climate is pretty much the same as Bata- it's just hot :) haha but sometimes it gets cool at night it's nice :) but pretty much the same. 

my cebuano??. it's about half the same (as ilonggo). but some words have a different meaning. like karon means later in ilonggo but now in cebuano. Then like prayer is pagpangamuyo in ilonggo and pagampo in cebuano. words are just different but the format is the same so i understand about half the time but i'm catching on really fast with god's help :)

we do exchanged every transfer with each sister and we only have 4 sister so 2 companionships so only twice every transfer :) so not very much. but it's amazing. We just call and check up on them also about once a week it's fun :) but two of them are transfering so we may only have two until the end of this transfer but they already did exchanged this transfer so just after the 26th i think we will do them again. 

i'm trying to send pictures but it won't register that i have a card in it's saying insert a removable disk when i try. 

Wk 45- STL ko na, Going to San Carlos and speaking Cebuano!! AHH!

Area: San Carlos
Companion: Sister Lara

(we received a short email) 

AHHH!!!! i am transfering today, just found out to San Carlos and it's Cebuano.. I'm also becoming an Sister Training Leader. I have never been so nervous but i know that doubt is opposed to faith. I will be going to galo at 12 to go with my new companion just to talisay because we have  missionary leadership training tomorrow and then i will travel to san carlos with my companion. I don't know who she is yet but i will be with a short term missionary for a couple hours and will probably eat lunch with her before but i will email longer later today when i find a minute. just know i love you!!

Sister Sinema sent these!
Sister Smoot and Sister Hogge- Sister Hogge returned to Tacloban mission

Elder and Sister Sinema! 

(then another one later)

I don't have much time to write because we have to leave now, but I will just tell you Sister Lara is now my companion. She is amazing!! Super nice and sweet!! I am excited to get to know her and learn so much from her and how to be a Sister Training Leader! I am so excited to be able to serve the missionaries and people in San Carlos! :) 

I am nervous to speak cebuano, but it's ok :) I know the Lord will help me because this is his work for sure!! :) Tonight I will go and stay in Talisay which is right next to Bata my previous area and then go to Missionary Leadership Conference tomorrow before heading back to San Carlos. My luggage and everything is still in the mission office, I haven't yet gone to San Carlos, but tomorrow I am excited to see it! :) Sinema's will be taking us there tomorrow. :) 

Love you all!! Padayon na gid kamo!! 

Love, Sister Smoot :)

ps dad yes i would love to be companions with sister smoot too... hopefully one day soon but we'll see what the lord has in store :) 

Wk 44- First week without Training!! :) haha

Area: Bata
Companion: Sister Oquias

We got a little treat last week for Talia and Mom's birthday :)

A Star Apple!

When you squeeze it to open it, milk like juice comes out.
It's very good but makes your hands and fingers sticky :)

This week has been really good :) It's a little different, yes without the training, but i'm getting use to it :) I've been doing the training schedule for so long!! Then only thing that really changes is we have 1 hour of companion study instead of two. We are still working on finishing her training though because she didn't do much with her previous companion, but so happy she is here with me! :) We are just trying to get use to knowing if we eat lunch at 11 or go out and come back to eat lunch. This week we've been eating at 11 haha kind of early but ok lang! it's working :)

Sometimes people will say me and Sister Oquias have the same tsurya. or we look a like which is kind of funny because i'm American and She's Filipina but she is beautiful so i just take it as a compliment. :) I did look at some pictures though and she kind of looks like Diane. It scared me a little because it's only in a few but it is kind of funny.

Anyways being here in Bata still is wonderful. :) We had two baptisms on saturday, brother John Carlo and Sister Doloras were our two baptisms. I'm working on sending pictures :) But It was wonderful! We did the baptisms with the elders in the morning. The little girl they baptized is i think the first one in her family. Her parents attended and she bore her testimony and said i hope my family gets baptized too because it's a good feeling. It was amazing!! Sister Doloras was like an hour late but we started and then she showed up got her dressed and took a picture before she went and sat in. We almost did two programs but it worked out :) Then Sunday sister Doloras was sick so she didn't come to church to get confirmed, but hopefully she comes next week, we will probably go out to visit her next week.

me and my companion and our baptism on saturday :) the little girl is from the elders and the little boy is from our area. His name is john carlo :) 'he lives with his grandma and his grandma was a less active! Sister Neis taught them while she was here and how we got to know him was one day like a month later, they showed up at church! said he wanted to be baptized. After sister neis left, we went there a few times but they were never there, it's kind of a further area. but it was a cool little sweet miracle :)

it was so cool :) and then john carlo got up bore his testimony and said it also that he wants his family to be baptized haha it was cute :) his grandma is the only other member

The baptism :) John Carlo and his grandma nenita and deloras and sister erma :) 

But we found out yesterday she is in a different ward. Not just different ward but that country homes is in a different stake... oops! but there are people there coming to church in bata, so I don't know, i guess we will figure it out tomorrow at district meeting, but it's been a fun little hastle. Everyone is confused on boundires here. There is also a dangerous place in our area that we have gone to in the day only, because it's dangerous at night, but it's very long it's Abkasa, but we are working on switching our area around so the elders can have it. It's just not very many houses and pitch black at night. I've only heard of things happening there, but don't worry, we are getting it changed around :) I've been trying for a while now, but it's finally working with these elders, they are helping me and my companion :) But maybe it's why I needed to stay here. I'm just happy I'm getting a handle a little on things and maybe kind of figuring out how to be a missionary haha :) But whatever we do, wherever we go, it's the lord's plan.

This week... sorry i keep forgetting my journal but i did write :) i'm doing better! I just want to say we are working on finding more people because most of the people that were progressing are now recent converts so we have to find more people :) So that's our goal this next week!! It's been an amazing experience! :) We have found some people that have been taught by missionaries before or that want their kids to grow up in the church. They were suppose to come to church yesterday, but we are working on them, we just started teaching them. But we also found out we had a less actives kids that aren't baptized yet at church yesterday after they had left, so we went and visited them and now she is going to be baptized on the 22 of February. :) I'm so excited and love finding new people!! You always find new places even being in the area for a while!! :) I love it!! :)

Brother Wycoco also brought us food while we were at the baptism! Very good pasta :)

Well I love you family!! SO CRAZY TAN'S ENGAGED!! Tell them congratulations and that was very cleaver what they did :) I LOVE IT!!! :) haha thank you!! I want to see more pictures if possible :) I love you so much!! Thank you for everything you have done for me :) For your prayers and your support. And don't worry mom, as a missionary we are suppose to leave home behind, something I did but not very well. Things like weddings and having babies help me want to forget more about home and go to work more, which i promise is a good thing as a missionary. Them getting married while I am gone is a blessing in disguise for me. And It's a blessing that we are doing what we are suppose to be doing!! So happy also for Tayton that he got his eagle and for Jade that he is SO CLOSE to turning in his papers!!! AHH!!! Our family is amazing!! Thank you for everything!! I will do the best I can to be a better missionary for you!! :) Thank you!! :)

Love, Sister Smoot

Wk 43- ARI KO DIRI SA BATA GIHAPON!! :) (i'm still here in bata)

Our district before Sister Fotofili got transferred 

This week!! last monday was the day they call for transfers. Everyone thought i would transfer... i didn't know what to expect. I had a little feeling i would stay but I'd been here for so long! but it was right!! I'm still here :) nobody called us! But it's been good :) We have had some fun times!

We went to a few different baptisms and i didn't bring my camera with me (sorry). But it was the Elders Baptism and a couple child of record baptisms. They were incredible!! The one on wednesday reminded me a lot of my own baptism when i was eight :) it was incredible!! :)

But some of the pictures my companion will send is when we went in the back of pinetree and got so muddy because of all the rain! it's really bad in there.

and also wednesday we got some balloons for elder ferrer because it was his birthday and he asked for a gift so we picked some flowers and put peddles in one and i had some star bursts from a package i put in another and the other one we wrote little notes on from the members and stuck papers in it. His favorite color is purple that's why they are purple hahaha and we had an orange long one with the pink one but it popped when we tried to write on it. But anyways that was our fast gift for him it was the biggest rush haha

 but i loved it and that mud... we went clear to the back through all the mud and our investigator wasn't even there haha. it was pretty great :) so we took a picture and left oops!! But it was pretty funny and that's when our recent convert, Princess wanted to come with us sa salud or just inside of pinetree. I don't know how to explain it but she lives closer to the highway so she came with us to their house because we had a member with us. anyways ,it was fun :)

I feel like this week more random moments happened then teaching moments. But on sunday we also had a nurse moment haha my companion really wanted to help and she was like 'i feel like a nurse!' we came down our little mountain and started walking through tunay and here comes little Rico crying and blood from his head and in his neck. We went and got my peroxide from the house and went and helped them clean up and get it bandaged. It was a lot smaller then i thought, but it was a different experience that happened.

I am sorry i forgot my journal, but i did write in it other than last night. But i'll try to remember next week :) I love you all!!

AND!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!! :) That's how they sing happy birthday here not the name but it's in english :) haha and they clap too!! Malipayon nga adlaw Mom and Talia!! That's what they said it is in ilonggo but they don't usually use it it just means happy day. But know i love you both and am so grateful for you both!! I did send you both a letter just two envelopes taped together. I didn't know tal's address!! But i love you :) Have a wonderful day on your birthday!! :)

Love, Sister Smoot

Wk 42- Princess and Ernesto got baptized!!! :)

Area: Bata

Companion: Sister Oquias

My favorite Family EVER! :)

This week has been wonderful, on saturday we had a baptism of Princess and Ernesto and it was amazing! They were super nervous, but did just fine. Then Sunday we came to church and the second hour they still weren't there so me and sister Oquias went and got them and Ernesto had worked that morning because he didn't have any money, but he was planning on coming but if we didn't show they would have been really late for sacrament meeting and not been confirmed, but we got them there and it made me a little sad because we taught him sabbath day a million times at the beginning and he has been following it until yesterday anyways, guess we'll teach it again, but at least they were baptized and confirmed :) They are incredible and I love them so much! It is sad how much satan can get at people that's why it's so important to continue/endure to the end!!! :)

Then yesterday we went on splits and i was teaching an investigator we hadn't focused on a ton and but they are pretty catholic and i taught about faith and being cleansed through sin and had a feeling to extend a baptismal invitation and date and so i did and they accepted if they come to know that its true! it was amazing!! I can't believe it!!

We also had a really good zone training last week!! We learned about how to teach a really short lesson using the pamphlets and how to use the tools we have because they really are inspired. People here are also very visual and the pictures help so much!!! i felt the spirit so strong and i love it!! :)

I love you family!! We also have 2 baptisms for Jan 25 here and Feb 1 and Feb 15  set up for now, but just continue, pray and have faith to be able to help these people here progress :) I love them!! And yes transfers are this week, i have no idea what will happen but we will probably find out tonight if something does happen. I love you all!! :)

Love, Sister Smoot

ps i did send pictures but i hope you get them i'm on a different computer and it is being weird, let me know what you get and what you don't so i can try again next week so i can figure it out :) love you!

wK 41- Family!! :)

new years breakfast :) from brother wycoco! 

(every missionary wants him in their ward) haha 

                           what i got from tammy :)

 i loved all the presents from christmas! thank you!!

 i haven't finished taking pictures but i took a few :)

camilla homes the complex where we live :) 

camilla and sunset still :)

camilla still :) and one of the random dogs we have walking around :) 

packages :) from matthew 

from mom and lana with letters!! from jones, spinders, and kaylee :) 

                                             thank you!!

This week has been pretty good!! :) Yes i did write in my journal this week and i'll see if i can remember big things that happened, because i don't have a ton of time, sorry this always happens. 

So on New years eve and new years day we had to be in by 5 o'clock and study so we were safe, so we went out early in the morning. On new years morning, i don't think i had ever been so full! almost every appointment we went to feed us food. it was all pretty good, but we went home for lunch just to update and get away from the food. It was crazy. We even stopped a less active before we went home for lunch from getting us food, we just told her that we were really full and they just laughed and laughed at us because we were like ah! we are so full! it was funny :) and on Christmas eve, oh boy, it was hard to sleep. They had fireworks and bombs that just went off all night, i finally fell asleep a little before midnight because i was so tired and slept through the biggest part haha but my companion slept and woke up at the biggest part. The fireworks that night started at about 9 and slower just got to be more and more and i think i just got numb and fell asleep but my companion said huge bombs went off. she called it the "goodbye philippines." Oh, i almost forgot, not only fireworks, but almost every house had music blasting in their little house. Different music everywhere, lucky where we live, the complex doesn't have too many people living in the houses next to us we just had fireworks down the street, but from all the brgy's, it was loud haha. And new years day that evening i didn't feel so good and felt a little weird, just because i had eaten so much. I took some pepto that night and the next morning [and had dirahea] but after i tried to sleep and what not i felt better :) haha.

Also, we had one of our Recent converts stop coming to church and we couldn't find her at her house, we found her on new years eve and found out she got a job. I had never been so blunt to anybody about the sabbath day. I made her cry and she new it was wrong. She said she would try to do better, and I felt good after, so i think it was okay. and my companion said it was good. but that was an experience i'd never had before, but my testimony has grown so strong about tithing and the sabbath and how it truly does bless our lives if we follow these commandments.

As we were preparing Ernesto and Princess for their interview, they got so nervous!! I don't know why i have had so nervous people lately, but they were so cute :) I love them so much!! 

(Do you live in the city or country?)

more in the city our far away areas we have to ride to are more country ish area

(What are the Philippine people like?)

they are the best people you ever met! they are super nice and friendly... i will probably think american's are rude when i come home... but yes they do they look at you like you're famous and some kids will try to touch you like are you real because we are white (i don't feel like i'm getting tan but i have a tan line) and yeah they yell "cana, cana" like Americana every time they see a white person (sister neis hated it because she's canadian not american). but they love and admire white people and yell "guapa" all the time when you walk by. and get shocked when you speak hilligaynon

Anyways i don't have much time left, i am so sorry! but i did write details in my journal, i have like 4 elders that we found out are coming home at the same time as me, such a small world, so weird!! but oh!! mom you wanted something funny. The other day we are sitting teaching Benji and the group (by the way we finally got benji and one of that big group to come to church!!) the rest said they would come next week :) haha awesome!! but Lesty, another sister is sitting there we just prayed and she was telling us about what she just read in her scriptures and they told her she had a mosquito on her and she kind of wiped her face and neck and keeps talking to us and then benji just smacks her in the head like "duh" hahaha but got the mosquito off her forehead, it was pretty funny :) I love the philippinos and how much they care for each other :) They are awesome! and Benji loved church too!! :) 

I love you family!! have a wonderful week and don't worry, I love it here, i love life and i love you family!! :)

love, sister smoot