The General Epistle of Samuel (my final epistle)

                                  

I never thought we would get to this point. A lot of mixed emotions. At zone meeting I was hit hard with the reality of it all. Every zone meeting the missionaries who will be going home bear their testimony to the group. I went first and held it together pretty well. Once Elder Rae started to bear his and get all misty eyed that was the beginning of the end for me. I was doing well during Elder Smiths testimony but as we sang the closing hymn all the memories of my mission came flooding back. I think I made it through the first verse and then I lost it completely. I sobbed through the other four verses of "If You Could Hie to Kolob." 

I recently was reading the story of Elder Heber C. Kimball before he departed from his first mission to England. He visited two villages, for the last time just before he left, where he was met with great success, Chatburn and Downham. It was an emotional event for him to leave many whom he'd come to love dearly as he strengthened them in the gospel of Christ. Some of his words illustrate my feelings for this country and the regions where I've served. "...I was constrained to take off my hat, for I felt as if the place was holy ground. The Spirit of the Lord rested down upon me..." He continues later on and writes of how he has to leave the road many times to wash his face because of his tears. If only there were more streams in Dover. 

I have come to love this place. The experiences had, the lessons learned, the people met and loved, and the spirit felt, is something I would never change for anything. I am grateful to so many of the lovely saints in the areas where I served, for their love and support of the work. I am especially thankful for my Saviour and his enabling power. Jacob chapter four verse seven reads, "Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things." I know that the Atonement of Christ makes all things possible. Countless times I have felt it buoy me up and make me capable of His work. It is His work. "[His] yoke is easy, and [His] burden is light." As we yoke ourselves in the work of the Lord we are shoulder to shoulder with Him and consequently with one another. I love the Lord. I know that Jesus Christ lives. He is our Saviour and Redeemer. His church is restored and we are blessed to be a part of it. I love all of you and look forward to seeing your smiling faces. 

Love, 

Elder Dalton

Sent from my iPad

Good old Kent countryside

We have lunch on the seafront after district meeting every week. This
time it was raining.

Roman lighthouse built in the first century AD

Car mileage lol

Selfie with a member

Dover Life

I'm still alive. We are working today. We moved our P-day to Friday to go to Dover Castle with President and Sister Jordan. I'll email then. Love y'all!

Love,
Elder Dalton

The General Epistle of Samuel (zone conference etc.)

It was quite a good week for us here in Dover. We had an alright
p-day. On the way to buy groceries we got a flat tire so I had to
replace it in the rain. Elder Claure had never done it before so it
was a good opportunity for him to learn how. We left the car at the
garage to get the tire repaired and to replace the others and to get
some new brake pads. While we waited we used the waiting area wifi and
emailed home. Then we strolled through town looking at the shops and
what not.

The rest of the the week went much smoother. We had a great zone
conference. It was sad though because it was the last one I'll be
attending. I said goodbye to a lot of missionaries I've come to love.
There was a good number of missionaries from my group there so we took
a picture together. While we were taking the picture sister Jordan saw
us and said, "I'm leaving too I want in!" Then she jumped in the
picture. She dressed up as Marry Popins as well. I'll send a picture.
It was a great conference.

The rest of the week was full of appointments. We are teaching a woman
from the Caribbean who has lived in France for quite some time. I can
understand a few words but I don't understand French haha. She speaks
English fairly well so we are able to teach her. Since we've been able
to get a copy of the Book of Mormon in French and give it to her she's
progressed so much faster. She came to church this week and loved it.
We'll keep working with her to help her progress towards baptism.

This week should be busy with appointments to teach and service. Since
he weather is nicer people are working in their gardens more which
means they need more help from us. I hope it stayed sunny this week.
I'm not a fan of constant rain. Well I hope you all have a great week!
I love you all!

Love,
Elder Dalton

Sent from my iPad

This is my favourite place to stop and think.....

Zone Conference!

Dinner appointment, a nice billboard, and an English street (it's two
way as well!)

This is the document that has my MTC groups vows to sprint to the
finish. We'll be giving it to our mission president and his wife on
the last night we are here.

#makeeverylastdaycount

Panorama

Selfie

Panorama

Thinking spot

Pictures from Zone Conference

The General Epistle of Samuel (sore knuckles)

This week was quite good. We were able to find quite a few new people to teach so that has really been a blessing. The weather on the other hand has not been that great. It's been classic English weather so that means sunshine one minute and a torrential down pour the next. Despite the weather we've persevered. 

We've spent a lot of time tracting and speaking with people on the street. I've been reflecting on how this was for me when I first started my mission in Stratford. I remember being so scared to stop people because I didn't know how they would react or what they would say. I was always afraid that I wouldn't know what to say. Over time however I've come to experience the truth of the scripture found in section 100 of the Doctrine and Covenants, verses 5 and 6 which say, "Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men; For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say." So many times I have had this happen to me. Sometimes the ideas of what to ask or speak about comes to mind. Sometimes the verses of scripture I need will be given me. Even words have been put into my mouth and later I think to myself, "how on earth did I come up with that?!" I know it's because this is the Lords work and he directs it through us. He will not let us fail. 

The coming week will be quite full for us. We have more people to be meeting with plus we will be traveling to London for zone conference which I'm excited for. It'll be interesting how the conference goes now that everyone has iPads. I am so grateful to be serving and I'm thankful to all of you for your love and support. I look forward, as always, to hearing from you all again next week! 

Love, 

Elder Dalton 

Sent from my iPad

Selfie with George at church

My companion and I with the bishop. Bishop is great!

The General Epistle of Samuel (sprint to the finish)‏

It was great to see most of you yesterday. It's always enjoyable to hear your voices. As we talked about plans of returning home and where to work and what not I was reminded of a quote our mission president shared with us on a conference call with my MTC group. He said, "the way you end your mission is the way you begin the rest of your life." With that in mind I've been striving hard to remain focused on the work I'm called to do despite all the possible distractions. Serving a mission is so wonderful!

This week we were able to get quite a lot done. We are working with George whom you met briefly while we were skyping. We usually meet him at the chapel about once a week and play table tennis and follow up on how his Book of Mormon reading is and praying. He is doing well. He's a great kid and has a lot of potential. We can hopefully help him make the covenant of baptism before I return. I'm praying he will. 

We are figuring out how to use iPads as well. There have been a few setbacks due to data privacy laws on Europe so we currently can't use the area book and planner app. Despite the minor setbacks we are seeing the iPads be quite a good tool. Many people are accustomed to watching videos so that has been great to show people different videos that soften their hearts to speaking with us more about the gospel. 

I hope you all have a great week and I look forward to hearing from you all again! Love you all!

Love, 

Elder Dalton

Sent from my iPad

The General Epistle of Samuel (iPads!)

Well this week has been quite eventful for us. On Tuesday we had a mission wide conference in Hyde Park so we had to make the three hour drive into London. I'm the only competent driver so after a three hour trip in, a five hour meeting, and a three hour drive home, I was quite exhausted. We had a great time though and we were able to drive past a few sights in London. Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the houses of parliament, the London eye, and across tower bridge just to name a few. We had a great time and learned a lot at the meeting. The theme of the meeting was disciples of Jesus Christ in the digital age. Obviously it was due to our mission receiving ipads but that was hardly mentioned. The greater focus was about agency, the atonement and repentance. There was a great focus on strengthening our testimony of the saviour and how that would help us make good decisions on the internet. It was very inspiring and uplifting.

As I've mentioned we received iPads this week (see picture below). They are iPad mini's and have a lot of blocks on them. I guess the church has learned quite a lot since they first tested them in pilot missions in the US and Japan. We currently can use all the church aps along with other ones like weather, maps, iMessage, email and whatnot. We'll soon be allowed to use facebook and skype to use to teach. The church has developed and incredible app for the pamphlets. I recommend checking it out. It is a great tool and we've seen it help us be more effective. Once they sort out a few legal issues we'll even be able have our area book and planner on the iPads. There is a data protection law here in Europe that doesn't allow personal information to be on the internet so that is what is holding that app back from being released to us. Maybe they'll have it done in five weeks... 

As far as the work is going we are working hard to help people progress. Jo's son George is showing some interest so that is good. We'll be playing some table tennis tonight with him and we'll have a chat to see where he is. It is moving along. I am so thankful for all the blessings from being a missionary. I don't want it to end! I hope you all have a fantastic week. I love you all!!!

Love,

Elder Dalton

I'm pretty sure these are weeds but they look nice

service project

sleepy village tracting in the rain!

Selfie in a bookshop

The General Epistle of Samuel (iPads!)

Well this week has been quite eventful for us. On Tuesday we had a mission wide conference in Hyde Park so we had to make the three hour drive into London. I'm the only competent driver so after a three hour trip in, a five hour meeting, and a three hour drive home, I was quite exhausted. We had a great time though and we were able to drive past a few sights in London. Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the houses of parliament, the London eye, and across tower bridge just to name a few. We had a great time and learned a lot at the meeting. The theme of the meeting was disciples of Jesus Christ in the digital age. Obviously it was due to our mission receiving ipads but that was hardly mentioned. The greater focus was about agency, the atonement and repentance. There was a great focus on strengthening our testimony of the saviour and how that would help us make good decisions on the internet. It was very inspiring and uplifting.

As I've mentioned we received iPads this week (see picture below). They are iPad mini's and have a lot of blocks on them. I guess the church has learned quite a lot since they first tested them in pilot missions in the US and Japan. We currently can use all the church aps along with other ones like weather, maps, iMessage, email and whatnot. We'll soon be allowed to use facebook and skype to use to teach. The church has developed and incredible app for the pamphlets. I recommend checking it out. It is a great tool and we've seen it help us be more effective. Once they sort out a few legal issues we'll even be able have our area book and planner on the iPads. There is a data protection law here in Europe that doesn't allow personal information to be on the internet so that is what is holding that app back from being released to us. Maybe they'll have it done in five weeks... 

As far as the work is going we are working hard to help people progress. Jo's son George is showing some interest so that is good. We'll be playing some table tennis tonight with him and we'll have a chat to see where he is. It is moving along. I am so thankful for all the blessings from being a missionary. I don't want it to end! I hope you all have a fantastic week. I love you all!!!

Love,

Elder Dalton

service project

service project

sleepy village tracting in the rain!

I'm pretty sure these are weeds but they look nice