This is an emotional time for the Chile Santiago West Mission. A beloved Elder passed away this weekend and the whole mission is trying to cope with the loss. He was a missionary from Dallon's group at the MTC. We ask that you keep his family in your hearts and prayers during this very difficult time. Due to its recent occurrence, we edited Dallon's comments in respect for the family's privacy.
"This morning we went to Santa Lucia and I took a couple pictures for you. The problem is that they were taken with Elder Smart and Balling's cameras. I'll send them as soon as I can get them ."
"We received the news about Elder ** passing away. I still can't believe it and I'm in shock. He was in my group in the mission. He has the same time as me. He was a district leader at the MTC and we worked together. I also talked to him at the last conference during Easter. He sat right across from me. He is the oldest in his family and has three sisters and one brother, like me. I don't know what to think. It is a sad time and President King wrote a letter asking us to pray for his family and to remember that he is continuing the work on the other side of the veil. When stuff like this happens, it pulls you out of the every day and makes you refocus on what's really important ."
"Elder Balling didn't get to have surgery last week because President King needed to get permission from Utah and go through a whole process. I guess we might be doing it this week. He has a tiny fracture in one of the smallest bones of his wrist, so they have to operate and put a screw in the bone to help it heal correctly. Hopefully, it will go by fast and I won't end up sleeping in the hallway of the hospital this week ."
"I gave a lesson about the Holy Ghost for district meeting. I talked a lot about Elders Bednar and Uchtdorf's talks from the last conference and how the Holy Ghost has such a huge role in the conversion of our investigators. The Holy Ghost is the most important thing that we have in this life. It is with his help that we can attain eternal life and keep holding to the iron rod."
"We had a mission work activity of making brownies for all of the less actives and recent converts. It was really fun and the ward made me top chef. ha ha I was in charge of all the brownies. Luckily, Elder DeLong gave me a really good recipe that turned out great! We had a lot of success and had a lot of fun doing it. At the end of the activity, the ward gave us a plate of brownies and and a note that said they loved us and that we were the coolest missionaries ever! When we got back to the pension, the other Elders asked about what the note said, so I told them it said that they love us mucho, mucho, mucho, mucho, mucho...ha ha It became kind of a joke and when they had a cookie activity, they left a plate of cookies on our desk with a note that said, "We love you mucho, mucho, mucho, mucho...", like a bajillion times. ha ha It was funny. Also for a Priesthood activity, we played ping pong and that was a blast! I need to better my pinging skills though because I think I have too much pong, if you know what I mean! ha ha The ward is training me. They really like ping pong ."
"We had a noche de hogar for the barrio that turned out great. Estrealla and her family all came and they came to church too. I am so excited for them. The topic of the noche de hogar was perfect and talked about afflictions and how the gospel helps us through them. The family is really starting to change and that is my favorite part about missionary work. I hope we just keep on seeing change! A woman who has been investigating the church and is basically active, except for the fact that she is living with a man, came up to us and said that she is no longer living with him and that she wants to be baptized in three weeks. How cool is that?! So now we have three baptisms scheduled for June 5th. I am hoping that her mom will also move out of her boyfriend's house and also be baptized the following month. I feel like the Lord is preparing people and I am here to just see it happen ."
"I gave the mission leader's family all blessings this week. They asked me to do the blessing, so that was kind of cool. I also think the Bishop is beginning to warm up to us. The other day, I got him to sing Abba with me! ha ha It was soooo funny! I haven't started piano lessons yet, but it is still in the works. We are teaching English classes that are getting bigger and bigger and it's cool to see that the kids are actually learning and progressing from what we teach them! Exciting! Anyways, that is what is going on with me. I love you all so much and am thankful for you every day. I know that you are always close ."
Elder Dallon Smith