Finally news from Dallon! It was the longest week of our lives. He is so happy and our hearts are bursting with joy. We must have received the wrong information from the Mission Office because Dallon is serving with Elder Opaso from Concepcion, Chile in an area on the coast called Barrancas. He says that he is in love with Chile!
"This experience has been absolutely amazing so far! My adventure has just begun and I LOVE CHILE!!! My companion's name is Elder Opazo. He is a native of Chile from Concepcion. He also speaks exceptional English. The Lord has blessed me so much this past week and my heart can hardly handle how grateful I am. It feels like I have been here for a long time but then I remember that it has only been a week. ha ha"
"My first thought when I arrived in Chile was wow... this place looks a lot like Utah. The mountains are all snow capped. We arrived at the airport and had a blast trying to navigate it with broken Spanish. ha ha All of the travel gate ladies were asking me for my name because they thought I was really good looking. ha ha It was really funny among the missionaries. Everyone here in Chile says that they want to trade eyes with me. It's funny because I can almost count on it every time I meet someone new. Anyways we finally made it through the airport and I was the first one to leave and meet Sister King. She is so funny and sweet. We all crammed into a 12 passenger hippie van and rode off to the MTC. Chile is so beautiful. I wish that you could see it. The temple is so small and short that I felt like I could touch the Moroni! ha ha We had lunch at the MTC cafeteria and then had orientations along with an interview with President King. President King is awesome! I hope I get to know him a lot better over the next two years. In my interview we talked a lot about everything. He asked me about my testimony and about how the church had been in my life. He told me that a testimony like mine was exactly what the people of Chile needed. He also said that I would be playing the piano a lot! Which I'm excited for, yet at the same time, a bit nervous. ha ha After that he asked me if I would be alright with a native missionary. I told him I would do whatever he was inspired to do and I would get along just fine. He was really cool."
"After the interviews, President King came in and told us that he had prayed to know who our companions should be and that it was apparent to him who we should be paired with. He then began naming off the names of companionships. My name was one of the last. He said...Elder Smith...Elder Opazo, and then looked up and smiled at me and said, "You're going to the coast!" ha ha I was the only one out of all the new missionaries going to the coast! I was so excited and everyone was jealous."
"After that we went out to the temple grounds and I met Elder Opazo. He was way cool to me and he spoke really good English and Spanish. He is definitely a blessing in my life. I don't know if I could have had any other companion. He helps me out so much! We all soon piled into vans and cars and went and dropped everyone off all over the city. I wasn't really sure what was going on, but I got to see a lot of Santiago, including the crazy drivers! ha ha Then we went back to the mission office to pick up Elder Opazo's stuff and headed to a big bus stop. Elder Opazo worked in the mission office for 8 months of his mission and he has been out for 13 months. He is a convert of three years and after the earthquake, the rest of his family all joined the church. He is so cool and is an example to me in many ways. I don't know if he's the best trainer because he hasn't really taught me anything yet, but we are getting a lot done and I feel safe here. We traveled on the bus for about an hour and a half to our sector, Barrancas. Little did I know that this is a sector that Elder Opazo and I are re-opening! I was surprised that President King sent me to open a sector for my first assignment. On the bus, Elder Opazo bought me a super eight and peach juice and told me about his life. It was real cool."
"This week has been full of work to re-open the sector. We had to go and meet all of the leadership of the church in the area and start finding investigators and updating everything. It's been a lot of work, but it's been fun too. My Spanish is actually pretty good. Everyone is always saying that they can't believe I've only been here for one week. Elder Opazo says he is grateful for me because my Spanish is so good. I told him to stop trying to make me feel good about myself, but he said he was serious and that I talked better than some missionaries that have been here for a year! I didn't believe him and told him that I hope not because I want to be a lot better than this in a year! ha ha The next day we had a district and zone meeting. All the missionaries couldn't believe that I was new and that I didn't know a lot of Spanish at the MTC. It makes me feel good. At the MTC, everyone was so much better than I was, so if they think I'm good, then the missionaries that were in my district must be phenomenal! ha ha When I first got here I felt like I couldn't understand anything. Chileans talk so fast, but I am understanding more and more everyday. The Lord has blessed me so much this past week that my heart is bursting with gratitude."
"Yesterday, I had an amazing experience at church. There are about 40 - 50 members and it was fast and testimony meeting. President Galvez asked Elder Opazo and I to bear our testimonies. I was scared but did it anyways. I told them that this past week I had met many of them and that they are incredible people followed by my testimony of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and temples. I also told them how I was really impressed that they were members who were stronger than me because there were only a few members in this area and my whole life I have had members all around me to help me be strong. I probably made a lot of speaking mistakes but I know that the spirit was there. Afterwards, the 1st counselor got up and talked about me his whole testimony. He said that this church was a church of miracles and that I was living proof of that. He told the members that I had only been here a week and that they could see the gift of tongues happening right in front of them. The members here are absolutely amazing! They are so humble. I love them already! I have realized this week just how much the Lord has blessed me. Back at home we have soooooo much! Remember to be grateful for our chapel and our home. I can't believe how blessed we are. Even the richest people here, don't compare to what we have."
"The coast is beautiful and my pension, or place where I live, is great! It's like a little Chilean Seaside! All of the houses here are small and feel like a basement. I live in a really nice pension where sister missionaries used to live. It looks a lot like a cabin inside. I love it and have never slept so well in my life! ha ha One thing about being close to the coast is it's pretty cold. I have been wearing sweats to bed with three blankets. We get to wake up at 7:30am, instead of 6:30, because in Chile they stay up later and we go to bed at 11:30pm. We get up and exercise for about 20 minutes and then get ready for the day. We have study and companionship study and then go to lunch at a member's home. Afterwards we come back and have language study hour and then leave for all our appointments along with Permaneced, which is a program that reactivates the inactive members. President King told us to focus on restoring and rebuilding the church here, more than baptisms. Luckily, we are doing both and already have three progressing investigators that are on their way to being baptized. We get home around 10:30pm and have time to relax before going to bed."
"Barrancas is not really a beach town. It's more like a port town. There's a lot of small houses that are pretty run down. They are made of cement. In some places it looks like Greece. Oh and there are mean dogs everywhere! They fight eachother and have dog gangs. It's really strange. ha ha None of them have bugged us much.
"I don't have a lot of time but I love it here. I am learning so much and love that I'm actually making a difference now. Every day is an adventure and I'm in love with my mission right now. Of course, it's only been the first week, but it's still amazing! The members here do all of our laundry and cooking. The food is kind of bland and they eat a lot of vegetables, but I've eaten everything and am full usually. We eat huge lunches and at night I get a little hungry, but that should change now that I can go shopping today! One good thing is that they have Nutella here but it's super expensive. I bought a bottle and went through it in one week. ha ha Yesterday we ate artichoke that we dipped in vinegar. It was interesting. The bread here is pretty good though."
"I love you all and am grateful for all your prayers. Tell Tori I scored my first soccer goal against the natives in Chile today! ha ha The coast is amazing and I ask that you pray for the people of Barrancas."
Love you, Quedense! Elder Dallon Smith