"The first of the week we had our last "Greenie" meeting. It was a lot of fun and I ate a ton of pizza! I love being with all my friends. Elder Cummock is always taking care of me and brought me an apple to eat. ha ha He is such a stud. We learned a lot about how to teach and use the spirit. We were all sad that it was our last meeting as "Greenies". It was so hot in Santiago. I am so glad that I am in paradise on the coast! ha ha"
"The next day we traveled to Melipilla in a tiny little hippie van. We had to squeeze the whole zone in and it was so crowded! There are 15 elders and 2 sisters in our zone. We still had a good time together. We went to listen to Elder Corbridge of the Seventy speak at a special conference. He taught about the most important gift that we are given in this life; the Holy Ghost. He said that we should focus our lessons on it. He is so smart and I learned so much. He spoke for 4 hours straight. It made for a long day, and then we had a small banquet afterwards. Elder Birch was there and I loved being able to speak Spanish with him. He spoke Spanish really well in the MTC and now I feel like I can speak it as well as he can. ha ha It was cool to know how much I've improved. Sometimes a weakness can be a strength. I started talking so much more and had a lot of really fun conversations with members and investigators this week. I want to improve faster, but I know that I am right where the Lord wants me with my Spanish. I won't let myself get discouraged. I am going to be fluent and I am going to be effective. The Lord uses the spirit to talk to people, not necessarily the words. I love being a missionary and wish that I could feel the spirit strong all the time, like when we are teaching. It's when I am teaching others about God's love for them, that I realize just how much he loves me."
"Then I had divisions with Elder Thomas. He is so much fun. I love that he is always himself. I like meeting people with different personalities and interests. I did a lot on divisions with him and we had a really good house contact. We had an 18 year old boy with us the whole day named Leo Luna. He is so cool and has such a strong testimony. A drunk came up to us on the street and kept telling us that we were Satan. He was talking crap about Joseph Smith and said that we worship idols. He ripped a card with the picture of Christ on it and the whole time I am thinking this is crazy. He kept saying something like "mentiendome", which kind of means, "are you lying to me", and I thought he was saying, "entiendome", which means, "do you understand me", so I kept saying, "yes, yes". ha ha Leo was like, "no! no!". It was so funny, but then Leo bore a strong testimony about Joseph Smith right there on the street. It made me think about how different it would have been to grow up in a different country. I would like to think that I would be strong in faith like Leo, then at the same time, I could see how difficult it could be without the support of members like we have at home. It was a great day, except for the flea bites I got again from staying over at the other pension! I have divisions with Elder DeLong again this week, so that will be fun."
"One really cool thing I got to do this week is help a man build a house. The landlord kicked his family out and they are super poor, so they are just going to build a house on an old abandoned lot next to the beach. I'm not sure if it is even legal, but we went and dug holes with a big iron rod to put pillars in for the house. It was so much work and we didn't have good tools. The iron ripped off my and Elder Opazo's calluses, so our hands were bleeding and we still had to dig. We had bloody dirt all over us. Then there were a bajillion flies that came and were eating at the wounds. It was crazy and miserable. At the same time, it felt good. He was so grateful and appreciated the help. I definitely worked really hard and it was a great service activity. I think we will be helping him throughout the month."
"It's sad to see how poor the people are and how alone they feel. We had a really good lesson with a family this week. The Bishop came with us and I know it made a difference. It is amazing how a few minutes of a leader's time can have such a big impact on someone's life. During the lesson they began to cry and said that they felt so alone and didn't understand why the Lord would put them in a situation where they had no where to go. They didn't have a way of changing their circumstances. They also said that they had no family and friends, except for the Lord and these two Elders. It was so sad, but I understood that the role of a missionary is so powerful. You are a representative of Jesus Christ. You are helping people to remember they are never alone and that we have a purpose and a plan here. It's at times like this that I realize there is no where in the entire world I would rather be right now. I love that you wrote me that it's not about the baptisms, but rather the lives that you touch. I have truly taken that to heart and it has changed our focus and planning for the week. I am here to help people; not just get baptisms. Although, I do have good news! Elena Salinas is committed to be baptized! She is the lady from the red apartments. We thought she was 35, but she has a daughter that is 21, so we don't really know how old she is. If you could pray for her and the Alfaro family, it would really help. Guillermo and Norka are going to be baptized this Saturday! Yay-aa! While on divisions, Elders Opazo and DeLong convinced them to have members baptize them, instead of me. I am so excited for them."
"Today we hiked up to a mountain that overlooks San Antonio. I am sending you some pictures of the activity. It was a lot of fun! We also found a new part of our sector by the beach. I was so happy! ha ha But the closer you get to the beach, the poorer the people are. I hope that we will be able to find lots of new investigators in this new part and make a difference in people's lives. Oh, I also ate some intestines this week that was really good."
"I love you all so much. Have a great week for me. The missionary work is truly a work of miracles. I hope you will all continue to be strong in the faith and remember the many blessings that we have."
Elder Dallon Smith
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| Conference with Elder Corbridge |
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| King of the Mountain! |
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| The District on top of the world |
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| Looks like an early spring! |
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| Great Missionaries, Great Friends |
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| Taking a leap of faith! |