Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Hump Day!

One year has already passed and we are all surprised about how quickly it went.  We are so grateful for this experience of having Dallon serving a mission in Chile.  He is happy, healthy, and safe.  What more could we ask for?  We look forward to another year of blessings for our missionary. 

"I can't believe that I have a year in the mission!  I still feel so new and yet now, I feel so old.  The good thing is that Elder Wilcox is still older than me in age, so that has helped me not feel too ancient.  It's been funny because one time when we were talking, he said, "I don't think that you were born yet." haha.  I've been teasing him about being so old the whole week, which has gotten my mind off thinking that I am on the home stretch now.  I didn't get to do much on my official hump day, but a couple days later Elders Wilcox, Britt and Rivera made me some brownies.  I did get a package from Grandma and Grandpa and it was full of M&Ms, Almond Joys and Nutella.  It was glorious!  That made my hump day fun."

"The ward has been absolutely incredible.  I still can't get over it.  We are having a lot of fun together and Elder Wilcox is a great companion too.  I feel like time is just flying by and that the weeks are actually days.  It has been really cool.  Out of the 33 contacts we had last week, I invited a family to be baptized the very first lesson and they accepted!  I was surprised that they came to church.  They are a cute grandma and grandpa.  They are very loving towards us.  I can't believe how well everything just works out here.  Right now we have four people with baptismal dates and three of them will be baptized on the 25th.  We are working hard and are having a lot of success.  The ward is starting to warm up to me.  It's always hard to change missionaries, but every missionary always gets his time to be loved.  I've just been taking it slow and enjoying every moment that I have to be here.  The leadership here is absolutely incredible.  They work so hard and I know the Lord is happy with them.  They are teaching me so much."

"We also had interviews with President this week.  I just barely had one with him last week.  My interview was actually a bit different this time.  I'm not sure if it was because I'm a leader now or because of the things that happened in Diagonal.  President just told me thanks for all that I was doing and that I was a good missionary.  He also bore his testimony about the church being true.  The rest of the interview we talked about the sector and the elders in my district.  Then on Thursday, I had leadership meeting and was able to hang out with a lot of great elders; Tialavea, Hollister, Barrett, Furiman, etc.  Not gonna lie though, I felt a little out of place being there.  It was fun but I felt a little out of it.  I was thinking why do I feel so out of place here?  I flipped open my triple and it went to Doctrine and Covenants 122, where it says to not fear the judgements of men for the Lord God will be with you forever.  It helped me to relax and feel better.  That just goes to show that I am still working on my own personal weaknesses.  I did learn a lot at that conference and it has been really fun getting to know the elders in my district.  I am going to start doing divisions this week and it should be a blast.  Another scripture that President shared was about how the Lord will be on your right and left hand and his angels will be all around you.  President said that we are the Lord's angels and that our companions are the ones that the Lord has sent around us.  I love that analogy.  The Lord's angels a lot of the time are the people right around us.  My district has Elders Mackie, Gonzales, Crane, Holton, and Hermanas Moya and Krist.  They are all really fun and I am glad that I can get to know them.  They all work really hard and I haven't had any problems.  Everything just seems to be going really well right now and I am so grateful."

"Last night was the 11th of September where all the people here freak out and riot.  There is a lot of crazy stuff that happens.  They blow up cars and rob places and it's just a mess.  I am so glad to be an American.  It has been fun to be here, but the United States is where its at..; even though the Chileans are making fun of Obama because he told the U.S. to have no fear while speaking in a bullet proof box. haha  I guess they all got a good kick out of that."

"Elder Wilcox is just a good guy.  He is really fun to be around and is really easy going.  I think I talk his ear off, but I think he is having a good time too.  We have fun everyday and are constantly teasing eachother about being from Utah or California. haha  He puts up with me even though I've been really sucking it up in sports and he's been killing it.  Today we played soccer again and I have been doing horrible!  They've been making me goalie...that's not a good sign. haha"

"Everything is great and I am loving my mission.  I don't want to think about it being half way over.  I like being here and don't want to leave it.  I love you all and am grateful for you everyday.  I love being a Smith! haha"

Elder Dallon Smith