Finally, the last letter. It is truly bittersweet. We are so excited to embrace our son again. It has been a beautiful journey. Only 8 more days!
"Wow, this week we had so much going on that I feel like I hardly had any time to work. On Tuesday, we had a little girl come to us and said that she wanted to be baptized. She is so cute and has always gone to church with us. She always squeezes our hands and is really funny. She was going to wait for her uncle to return from his mission, so he could baptize her, but she said something inside of her was saying that she needed to be baptized right now. She went and asked for an interview with the branch president and then they called me in. They asked me if she could be baptized and of course, I said yes! haha They invited me to help baptize her in the font because she cannot stand. We have been preparing her all week for her interview and President King gave us permission to baptize her, so we are super excited for her. We also have Diego. His dad was interviewed and is going to be able to baptize him! It has been a long process, but it's been so worth it. Then there is Andres who passed his interview yesterday! If everything goes as planned, we should have 3 baptisms this Saturday and we will end my mission with a bang! haha It's gonna be great!"
"On Thursday, we had a special capacitation with Penaflor. I got to see Elder Britt and Elder Calditaran again. It was fun to be with them. The capacitations are kind of boring for me now because the stuff we are learning, I won't be around to implement. That is just how it is now. On Friday, we had a leadership capacitation in Maipu and Elder Holton and I taught a really cool class on Family History. We made a video of the testimonies of our converts and it was really powerful. We got a lot of positive feedback from the missionaries. On Saturday, we had to organize a cosechon where all the missionaries from our zone go to work in one sector. Luis came with us and actually helped us to find a golden investigator! She is a young girl named Michele. She is 20 years old and didn't believe in God until about a year ago. Her grandmother was suffering before her death and Michele said a prayer in desperation and asked God to take her grandmother if he existed. The next morning her grandmother passed away. She had just gotten home from visiting the grave site when we were entering her house. She said she knew it was for a reason. She had gone to primary when she was a little girl. Luis shared his testimony and invited her to his baptism that very day! The craziest thing is that she went and there were some of her relatives at the baptism! It was a cool experience."
"Luis had a great baptism. It was really easy and went really well. One of our speakers didn't show up, so I ended up leading the music, giving a talk, and singing in the musical number. haha He had a ton of family and friends there. The chapel was packed! When President Arancibia baptized him, the spirit was so strong and Luis came out crying. It was awesome and I think his whole non-member family really felt the spirit. It was incredible. Luis is so prepared and I know that he will be a great missionary. He is already getting ready and President Arancibia is taking great care of him. Later that night we went to share with President Arancibia. He said the kindest things to me. He started to say his good-byes and said that I was an exceptional missionary and that he had never felt such love from a missionary before. He said he couldn't believe the miracles that we have had and that he was grateful for me and is going to miss me. He and his wife were both very emotional. Then on Sunday morning, he thanked me again in front of the ward leaders and became emotional again. He is so cool and I have never felt so honored."
"This time in the mission has been full of reflection and gratitude. I'm so grateful for the mission and for the blessing that it has been in my life. I can't believe how fast it went by, but when you look back, you see all the work that you did and see that it has been a long time. I am glad that I can end it strong and that I will always have great memories of the people and experiences here. It has been nice to have this time with the Lord and I will sorely miss it. Thanks for always being such a big support in my life. I am so grateful for each and every one of you. Don't ever forget that I love you and that I prayed for you every day. I hope that my siblings will know that my mission is a testimony that I know that this church is true and that the most important things have to do with this gospel and our Savior, Jesus Christ. He loves us and I have gotten to know him so much better. Don't ever doubt your testimonies. We are in the truth and whether we are together or apart, we will always be an eternal family. Jake, you are the next missionary, so get ready. In this family, we serve missions. I'm proud of you and I'm proud to be a missionary of Jesus Christ."
Elder Dallon Smith
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Luis's baptism day |
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The "Go Homers" with Pres. and Sister King |
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Together at the Santiago Temple |
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Elder Smith and Elder McDougal |
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Elders Crist, Smith and Smart |
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Elders Calditaran, Strong, McDougal, and Smith |
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Elders Crane, Britt, Smith, and Nilsen |
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Elders Smart, Smith and Madsen |
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From the beginning to the end.., Elders Smith, Birch and Cummock |
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Elders Chavez, Holton, Britt, and Smith |