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

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 (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

The General Epistle of Samuel (miracle business)

We have had a pretty good week this week. Last P-day we went to the white cliffs of Dover as you saw in some of the pictures. It was good fun despite all the mud. I'll send a picture to illustrate. We were happy to have done it in the narrow window of clear skies before it started raining again.

This week we experienced the great blessings of a miracle. I believe I mentioned last week about a woman named Jo who told us she wanted to be baptised. This whole week we have been working like crazy to get her prepared for the 25th of January. We have taught her every night besides Sunday to get her ready. It has been the easiest investigator ever! She has read almost everything. We have taught almost everything and she knew it all before we taught it. She told us how now that she has made the decision that she has felt an overwhelming peace in her life. She is incredible. Her husband Ian, who was baptised a few months ago, is over the moon. He is so excited. It is incredible to see the gospel taking effect in their lives. The spirit seems to be stronger and stronger in their home every time we go over there. This Sunday is the baptism so we are praying everything will go well. 

This week is going to be full of a lot of finding as well since we need more than just one person to teach. Our faith has been increased a lot after seeing the progress of Jo. Thank you all for your love and support. I hope you all have a great week. You're all in my prayers.

Love,

Elder Dalton

We helped a guy lay his grass in his back garden. Our car was used for a bit of the hauling lol

Elder Tina'o and I at the cliffs