It is hard for Dallon not to think about his time getting short. There is so much still to do and he wants not to waste a moment. We received his travel plans and there will be four returning together to the Salt Lake airport. One of them being, Elder Smart, who has been a great friend throughout the mission. It will be a wonderful reunion and we can't help but be excited.
"A week of changes! I found out on Saturday that Elder Pena is leaving and I'll be receiving a new companion. It is bittersweet. We worked hard together and did well and I am hoping that I will get another good companion. I'll find out tomorrow."
"The biggest news is we finally got our investigator to get married! She got married on Friday. It was really cool to be a part of that and hearing the "I do's" stuff. The family loves us and says that they will never forget us. We went to the municipalidad (I don't know how to say that in English), where you go to get married with the government. They asked me and Elder Pena to be the witnesses, but I couldn't do it because, right now, I am illegal in Chile. haha My carnet got held up a bit because a grandma missionary accidentally sent me an important form for my carnet, instead of sending it to the office secretary. This next week I will renew my carnet. Anyways, they had a big feast with breakfast and a barbeque. It was really fun and cool to be able to share that with them. She will be baptized on May 19th, and their sights are set on the temple."
"We also had another concilio. It is the meeting for zone leaders where we leave the night before, stay with the office elders, and then travel to President's home. Then afterwards, we take a long journey home. We lose a lot of proselyting time, but it is fun to be with Elder Smart. He got us seats next to eachother on the planes home. There is only 6 or 8 of us going home early. Concilio was fun. We ate a delicious breakfast and lunch. That's the best part. I was with Elder Mackie the whole time. He is one of my best buds in the mission. The zone is doing alright. We are doing good on baptisms, but we still have some room to improve on our key indicators. I also went on divisions with Elder McBride. I love this guy! We always have a good time together. I don't get how we can talk everyday and yet on divisions we never run out of things to say. haha"
"Something cool that happened yesterday was, in the middle of sacrament meeting, 8 big white men walked in and came and sat next to me. They were all United States military and were training down here. Every one of them was LDS and had all served missions. A lot of them were studying at BYU. They were all cool and were giving me tips for after the mission. I felt like I was back home! haha Their commander had served his mission in Chile 28 years ago and had baptized our second counselor, so he brought them all over to visit. It was weird too, because they greeted me with a handshake and here in Chile, the custom is a handshake and a hug. They were all super awkward about it and I realized that I was the weird one giving them all hugs! haha That is one thing I am going to miss from Chile. You can really feel someone's love for you when you hug them."
"As far as cooking.., I don't cook. Everyone has always taken care of me. I don't know what I am going to do. There are a couple things I would like to try to make when I get home, such as; pan amasado, flan, completos, and sopaipillas. However, the food is almost always the same; rice, potatoes, chicken, corn, etc. It's pretty much the same stuff all the time unless someone really loves you and makes you what you want. I'll have to take a cooking class. haha We eat a lot of fruit for desserts, but I don't really eat them when I'm on my own."
"For Mother's Day, I will be calling on Sunday! Whoooo hoooo! We have to use public computers, so I hope Skype will work out. I have found two places that seem good, so we are going to do the best we can to have a good chat. It's gonna be a short one because Pres. King keeps making the time shorter and shorter. He said this time that we only have 40 minutes."
"I love you to death and I am doing well. I just hope these last changes will be even more wonderful for the rest of my mission. I love it out here. Good job for using your talents family. We are going to have so many opportunities in the future, but the greatest opportunity we have is to open our mouths and share this gospel. There is nothing like it. A mission is happiness. I can look back and see just how far I've come and it is incredible. I would be frustrated living life as the person that I was. I know that I can handle so much more now and that the Lord's promises are real. I'm grateful for you all and for the blessings that we share. We are so freakin' rich!
Elder Dallon Smith
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| Marriage at the Municipalidad. |
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| The happy family! |
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| Zone Leader Concilio May 2012 |
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| Oh...now we recognize them! |
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| Working hard at President's house. |
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| The favorite, cookie ice cream sandwiches! |
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| Elder McBride and Elder Smith on divisions. |
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| The temptation was just too strong! |
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| Elder Smith sleeps on the right. |
