The General Epistle of Samuel (curve ball)

It has been a pretty good week here in Dover. We have been doing a lot of good work and things are starting to happen. We've had a few curve balls thrown at us this week but luckily we have been able to hit them.

The first curve ball was our car going into the garage on the 11th. With the car gone and a huge area we were left with an opportunity to walk a lot. We took the train too. We faced this challenge head on and some good came from it. We were able to speak with a lot more people which is always a blessing. Since we spoke with more people we were able to find some that are interested in the message we share. One of these individuals is Mateusz from Poland. 

Mateusz's family is our second curve ball. He was very interested as we talked with him on the street. We set an appointment for later in the week and arranged for a member to take us there and teach with us. We were excited to meet his family and begin teaching them. He told us that he was married and had two kids (twins). When we got there we found out that his wife is from Peru and didn't speak English too well. Luckily I could explain who we were in Spanish (Thank's Elder Martinez). Once she realised who we were she told us how she has family that are members and nieces and nephews on missions. Then she gave us pie. We had a good lesson and their two kids (they don't understand English and are two and a half) enjoyed emptying my bag of its contents and filling it again with their toys. We will be seeing them again this week. The members were elated because it was a normal young family. This was a good curve ball. 

We are pretty happy with how our week went. We always see the hand of the Lord in His work. It is such a great blessing to be in His service and share the gospel with our brothers and sisters. I hope that you all have had a wonderful week and have an even better one this week. I love you all!

Love, 

Elder Dalton

The General Epistle of Samuel (sunshine)

We've had a fairly good week this week. Lot's of sunshine so that always makes things better :) We had zone conference at the Hyde Park Chapel. It was a great meeting. We talked a lot about finding people to teach. There was an emphasis on using family history to find people to teach. After the meeting we had ward council so our days was all meetings.

The rest of the week we went finding. We've found some good people to teach so now we need to get them progressing. This week will be a bit of a struggle since we have a huge area and the car is going into the garage to get body work done (that's a whole other story). We'll have to be quite good at planning for the latter half of this week to come. 

On p-day we had quite the adventure. We were told of how to get to a Napoleonic era fort that has been abandoned. Long story short we found the place and made a corny documentary. I'll upload it to my drop box account and then share it all with you. I hope everyone has a great week! I look forward to hearing from you all again!

Love,

Elder Dalton

The General Epistle of Samuel (we got wrecked!)

Well this week didn't quite pan out the way we would have hoped. At the beginning things were looking good. Four people ready and willing to be baptised. By the end none of them came to church and we lost one date.

Rachel, who we were preparing for this month was all set to come to church. We had a powerful lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ and she was super committed to be baptised and come to church. The next day when I messaged her on Facebook to confirm if she was going to come she told us she wants time to think about things because she feels like she is betraying her church. We'll give her space and wait for her to come around. 

As for the clan, since Rachel wasn't coming that meant we had a member primed and ready to bring people to church so we arranged with the clan to have them come with the member. We went over saturday night to celebrate Chris's birthday with them. They didn't have any alcohol while we were there but I saw the two 12 packs of cider hiding in the other room lol. Long story short they didn't wake up in the morning. 

Recently we have been experiencing a lot of adversity. Just last night we were tracting a very nice part of town (we want to baptise people with money that will build the ward, not leech from it). It was a good neighbourhood and we were receiving a pretty good response when it just decided to pour down the rain. Then we had a black out lol. People aren't too keen on opening their doors when their power is off. The funny part of it was the power cut shortly after a man cursed at us at the door haha. 

Despite the rough week we aren't dissuaded from the work. It's fuel to work harder and overcome the adversary. Good things are to come this is just the rainy dark section just before the light. Things are going to get much better. 

I hope everyone has a great week this week. Keep an eye out next week for our great P-day adventure today. It should be good.... ;) I love you all!!!

Love,

Elder Dalton

P.S. Here's a great picture of our adventure to the white cliffs of Dover. 

This is the bishop's family. They're nuts!

Elder T and I enjoying some gifts from his family

I almost fell off the cliff ;) lol

The General Epistle of Samuel (Cultured and blessed)

We had a wonderful week this week. We moved our P-day to Friday so we could go with the Waddiloves to Dover Castle. It was a really cool experience. There are about three miles of underground tunnels that have been used from the Napoleonic war to the cold war. Lot's of history about WWII and the evacuation at Dunkirk. All very interesting. The castle was very neat as well.

Throughout the rest of the week we had some great lessons. Rachel is doing well and we'll be seeing her again this week. Chris and his clan are doing great as well. We have narrowed them down to three people we are working with. Chris, Emma, and Jordan. They have all made huge progress since we started teaching them. The other evening we had an appointment scheduled with them and we were planning on inviting them to be baptised. We received a text from them in the morning saying that Chris wasn't well and that they couldn't meet but we just ignored them. We already had a member lined up to come with us and we didn't want to cancel the appointment. The time came and they tried to text us again to say they weren't well enough to have us. Again we ignored them. We went to the appointment and they were happy to receive us. We taught lesson three the gospel of Jesus Christ and the spirit was very strong. When we came to the principle of baptism they knew what was coming. When we invited Chris he said he already knew the book was true so he was in. Jordan said he was ready but Emma was a bit hesitant. Her family threatened to disown her if she went through with it. The member we brought (an 18 year old young man) bore a powerful testimony that helped her figure out what she needed to do the help her family understand. The next day she agreed. It was a wonderful miracle. We will see them again this week. We have been very blessed as of late and we are very grateful for it. 

The work is moving forward here. I am so thankful for this opportunity to be serving the Lord. I don't want it to end! I hope you are all well and that you have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Dalton

The General Epistle of Samuel (turn around)

This week has been crazy as far as people we are teaching. First off, we have people to teach. We started the week by stopping by the address a woman we talked with on the street gave to us to meet her at. When we knocked on the door a man answered and said, "You're mormons aren't you?" We affirmed him that we were and he said to come in. We went into the living room to find four other people. The woman we spoke with on the street being one of them. We were fired at left and right with questions and one young lady in particular had a lot of them. Once we got them all calmed down and explained our purpose as missionaries and that we can share with them a series of lessons that will help them come unto Jesus Christ we were able to say a prayer with them and set an appointment for later in the week. Since then we have met with them four more times and shared the restoration and the plan of salvation along with the word of wisdom(there is some work to do there). Their home has been somewhat tough to have the spirit present but many times we have seen it testify of the truth of what we were teaching to one of the individuals named Chris. They will join us for church on Sunday which we are quite excited about.

The second great experience we've had with teaching people was with a woman named Rachel. We met her on the street last week and shared about the Book of Mormon. She agreed to have us come by with a copy and share more about it. We set an appointment for this past Thursday and went on our ways. Thursday rolled around and we knew we wouldn't be able to go into her house if there wasn't another male there. We had done all we could to get a member to come with us but nothing worked out. We thought about rescheduling but had a strong feeling that we should go anyway. We prayed that it would be made possible that we could go in. When we knocked on the door the first thing she said to us was sorry about how cold it was in her flat because she had a bloke there working on the boiler. We looked at each other with a smile and followed her in. We had an incredible lesson with her and again we could see how the spirit was working within her and testifying of the truth of the message we shared. It all clicked in her head and she agreed to be baptised at the end of march. When we invited her for a specific day she said, "everything in my head is telling me to say no and not to put a date on it but I feel like I should say yes, so yes." We have been in contact with her since and she has been reading quite a bit of the Book of Mormon. We have been richly blessed this week! 

The coming week we will be working hard to help these people progress and to find more to invite. Well we have made plans and got approval to go to the castle in Dover with the Ian and Jo(she was recently baptised). We'll be doing that Friday. Elder T has a good camera so we'll be taking a ton of pictures. Thanks again for all your love and support!

Love,

Elder Dalton

The General Epistle of Samuel (The end of another transfer)

It seems as though each transfer passes by faster and faster. It is incredible how time flies when you're having fun. Elder Tina'o and I will be staying together for another transfer. That most likely means I am here till the end. I am happy about that. I am really starting to get to know the ward and earn their trust. From what I hear from the members, a lot of problems with the missionary force have stopped since I moved in. I've been thanked by a few members for that. Hopefully we can keep their trust and help them share the gospel with their friends.

We did a lot of street contacting this week. We have been struggling for a while to get people to stop and speak with us. As we were trying to figure out what to change or fix the idea came to make a survey and get people to answer some questions about religion and such. Turns out it worked pretty well. I just made a document on the computer to look all official and stuff and people went for it. It turned out pretty easy to get people talking about their beliefs and we were able to set some return appointments with people. We are happy to have some people to work with. 

We've had some winter weather lately as well. One of the days we were out street contacting for a few hours we decided to go out in the sticks and find some lost sheep that the mission office sent us to find. As we were out driving on the back roads it started snowing quite a bit. It only snowed for maybe thirty minutes but Elder T was over the moon. Coming from Australia he has never seen snow fall from the sky. He got out and started playing in it. I snapped a couple pictures of him. I'll send them later. After a few snowballs were thrown at me while I was in the car, we contacted a few lost sheep. It was pretty exciting for Elder T. 

This week we have just the usual stuff going on. We don't have to worry about packing or moving so today we are going to play some chair football with the district at the chapel. We thought about fish and chips on the white cliffs but we'll wait for a clearer day. It's a bit overcast today. Thank you all who sent pictures. It was great to see everyone's faces! I hope you all have a great week and I look forward to hearing from you again next week!

Love, 

Elder Dalton

Some good looking lads

 the dover castle from town centre

putting the castle into perspective

 a bit of snow

The General Epistle of Samuel (Slow Week but lots of service)

This week was a bit slow for us as far as working with investigators is concerned. We are struggling to find new people to teach but we are still looking. On the other hand we did a lot of work to strengthen the current members of the ward. We have done a lot of work with the recently baptised members and some service for the longer standing members. We had a big service project this week.

We helped the Elders quorum remodel the kitchen of a small flat. We mostly did the painting and they put in the IKEA kitchen. It was a fun project. I however am burnt out on painting. It doesn't take long to make that happen. 

Another highlight this week was the confirmation of Jo. Her husband was too ill to make it to church so she asked me to perform the ordinance. It was a special experience and I am very grateful for the opportunity. She is very solid and loves relief society so that is great. She is progressing in the gospel quite nicely. They are having us over for dinner again this week so we look forward to seeing them again. 

That has been our week this week. We have a full week of finding new people to teach this week so we are praying we see some results. It is the last full week of the transfer this week as well so next week p-day is on Tuesday so don't be disappointed when I haven't sent anything Monday. Thank you all for your love and support!

Love,

Elder Dalton

P.S. We had a few flurries of snow this week. It's all gone now.

here's one of our room. guess who sleeps where. 

Lookey what I found!  The MTC district!

This is what we were doing before service. The one time we were early.
The second one is especially attractive...

Here are some pictures of the flat. We had to clean today and send pictures to the office.
We have to do that every five weeks. 

The General Epistle of Samuel (Jo got baptised!)

Well the most exciting thing of the week was the baptism of Jo. It went incredibly well and I wasn't stressed about much of any of the happenings. All the speakers were there on time, the font was filled on time and warm, and most importantly Jo showed up! Elder Tina'o performed the ordinance and the spirit was very strong. Her husband Ian spoke on the Holy Ghost and bore the sweetest testimony to his wife. Once she was baptised and they were changing I went and spoke with Ian because he was crying out of sheer joy. We hugged each other and shared a tender moment and talked about their sealing in a year from now. The spirit was so special. Even Jo's 16 year old son felt it (even though he didn't want to admit it ;) ). One of the best baptismal services.

Now we really need to get to work. We have a goal to find someone and baptise them in the month of February. We have a big task ahead of us so it is going to take some work. Elder Tina'o and I are really enjoying serving together. Our district leader made a deal with Elder T that if he can be exactly obedient for the rest of the transfer he'll take him out to his favourite restaurant and buy him as much as he can eat. Needless to say we have been very blessed for our obedience the past few days lol. 

It is working. It is making a change in him and he is recognising the blessings that come from it. Thank you all for your love and support. I pray that you are all doing well!

Love,

Elder Dalton

Pictures from Dover

more pictures

The White Cliffs of Dover

I think that is France.....

That is my companion.....

Man it's windy!

We walked along the whole thing.

The Cliffs are made of chalk and there were chalk boards by the main car park so we deemed it a good idea to leave a message :)  and it started to rain.....

Not too far from France.

spiral staircase in our flat

Lovely Dover. Lots of hills...

The General Epistle of Samuel (new area)

This week seemed to be quite long. It was packed full of all sorts of different activities. The most prominent one of course was moving. I am in the Deal ward now, living in Dover. Dover is home of the white cliffs and the Dover castle. There are a lot of hills here and even more farm land. Needless to say I feel at home. Our flat is significantly larger than my previous one, complete with two floors and a spiral staircase. Now that it's been cleaned up a bit it is quite nice. We have a car as well so I am living the dream here. Dover is also the closest point in England to France, roughly 20 miles away. We were driving home from Deal the other evening and we were on the hill where the castle is. It was a clear enough night that you could look out over the channel and see the lights of the towns on France's coast as well as the lights of the ferries going between. It was pretty neat.

The ward here is great and we have a very supportive ward mission leader. I have a feeling I'll be here until the end so it's time to dig in and get a lot of work done. The ward is a bit small so that means they need a lot of baptisms. The ward was very receptive of my arrival since the missionary I replaced was less than liked by the members. He was a bit too overbearing and full of himself that I have heard nothing but complaints about him. From what I hear he told the members a lot of lies which made them not trust him one bit. We'll be mending a few broken relationships.

A man named Peter was just baptised the Sunday before I came and we taught him a few time this week. On Sunday we did his confirmation and he asked me to perform that. It was a great experience. Elder Tina'o is a great missionary. He is Polynesian and born in Australia. He is a character so it's never a dull moment with him. I am loving my new area and look forward to the coming months. I hope you all have had a wonderful new years. I love you all!!!

Love,  

Elder Dalton

Oh I forgot to mention that next monday we have interviews in London with President so I wont be emailing until tuesday so don't freak out and assume I swam the channel to france and have disappeared. Love you!

Here is the new {Canterbury} zone!