"We just got back from going to a bunch of old mines. It was way fun, even though I am now exhausted. We were jumping all over the place and entering creepy holes in the mountain. There were cool views and have I told you I love the country? I am excited to tell you about one of my favorite weeks of the mission. It's been a blast!"
"We started off with a baptismal interview for a man who had been an eternal investigator. He recently made the decision to be baptized. My interview with him was so spiritual. He passed and the spirit lead me to say some interesting things. It's cool how the spirit works and I am learning more and more to follow his counsel. It was a great interview and he was baptized and confirmed yesterday. He was so happy and will be a great patriarch for his family. After that we basically finished preparing Paloma and Titi for their baptismal interviews. They both wanted me to baptize them, so they ended up drawing names. It was awkward. haha It ended up that I will be baptizing Titi and Elder Pena, Paloma. Then we will switch for the confirmations. They both had their baptismal interviews yesterday. They are way excited and it's incredible to know that they have waited a long time to be baptized, but the Lord waited for Elder Pena and I to be a part of their conversion. It's interesting to see that many of our eternal investigators are getting baptized. I'm glad that they waited for me. My relationship with these people are really deep and strong. I can hardly believe how much I love them. Nora is doing so well and is so happy. We made her a scripture case that is really cool. This Saturday we are going to have two more baptisms! That makes me really happy!"
"Our zone is having great success. Our month goal was to have 6 baptisms and we are already completing that. The mission is taking notice that our zone is really progressing. We will be the strongest zone soon! haha At least that's what my Talatud tells me. haha Elder Pena and I still have a ton of investigators that are progressing and will be baptized in the following months. I can hardly believe it. I'm happy to just work, work and do more work. I wish I could be with investigators all day. It's a good time when we are all together."
"We went to the temple and it was one of the best experiences of my life. It was so fun to be in the temple with our mission president and zones. I loved it and felt the spirit so strongly. It is such a blessing that I can communicate in the Spanish language. I can see just how much the Lord has blessed me in such a short amount of time. I can do almost everything memorized in Spanish in the temple. When I entered the celestial room, Presidente King greeted me and said, "Welcome to heaven," and then Hermana King was crying and said that she wanted to hug me. It was so cool to be there with all the missionaries and when they prayed for the missionaries, it was a feeling that I will not soon forget. Absolutely incredible! Also there was a lady there who handed out the temple clothing and for some reason she just loved me. She remembered me and took care to make sure that I had the best of everything. She even talked to the other missionaries about me and I don't know why, but I liked it! haha We got to eat at the MTC and took a zone picture in front of the temple."
"We also got a real world wake up call this week. In La Isla de Maipo, there is a big wine fest going on. Everyone is cramming onto the busses that go there. Well, Elder Pena and I had to go teach some of our investigators that live there, so we got on one of those crammed busses. We were on the very back bench and there were so many people that we couldn't even stand up to give our seats to the women. People were screaming at the driver to not let anymore people on the bus because it was already too full. Elder Pena asked a man to please touch the button to stop the bus. The man looked at us and in a really awkward way said no sternly. We thought maybe he was joking but he didn't touch the button, so we went way past our stop. We were trying to ask someone else and the ladies that were sitting next to me, saw the whole thing and were finally able to get the bus to stop. We had a long walk in the country to get to where we were going. Elder Pena was sooooo mad! It made me realize the world that I will be going back to. As missionaries we are always thinking that no matter how they look or act, there is someone good inside and they are all children of God. However, sometimes things make me realize that not everyone is good and can be trusted. Some people are mean and angry. haha It will be tough not being able to help those people after the mission. The good news is the investigator who we went to visit, finally committed to get married, and she could soon get baptized too. We are hoping for the best."
"Paloma was really sick, to the point that she couldn't even walk. Well, we had a cool miracle happen. On Wednesday, we went to the temple and put her name on the prayer roll. On Thursday, she was completely healed and running around. She said that she had felt our prayers and that the night before she said a prayer that was really intense. She said that she told the Lord that she wanted to do what he desired of her and finally was married and wanted to be baptized. She asked him for the strength to be healed so that she could do what he required. The next day she went to the medico and he told her that she was completely fine. That is the gospel in action!"
"We taught 26 lessons last week and that's with losing one day to go to the temple. We have plans to leave on divisions almost every day this week, so that we can visit all of the people that we have planned. It is going to be crazy town! haha I love you all so much. I think of you all the time and am more grateful for you everyday. Thanks for all that you do and are. Take time to enjoy life."
Elder Dallon Smith
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| Talagante Zone Mine P-day |
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| Talagante Zone at the Temple |