WEEK 5! Time goes so fast!

so we just finished up week five of being in perth its pretty crazy its already been five weeks but cool at the same time but i still feel like i don't know anything and i don't like that to much but i'm still learning lots just like every missionary says i wish i would of studied more before the mission. so ya it makes ya feel very inadequate but thats what makes ya wanna learn more and continue in studyin i suppose ha but its been great this week is the same as any other ya got the good with the bad. but yesterday sister smith and damien came to a musical fireside about pioneers with us. which is a huge step for them cause there not to big on bein in public but they are great people its crazy how ya get to love them they are awesome and we invited damien to be baptized and he said he'll pray about it so its great we are goin over to see them tomorrow and have tea(dinner) with them. so there great and we'll talk with him more about it tomorrow and they said they would come to the cottage evening next saturday so i'm really excited about that too. so its general conference this week for you guys ay? its not general conference for us til the 8th and 9th cause otherwise we would have to watch it in the middle of the night ha so they record it and rebroadcast it for us. so i'm pretty excited for that and hopefully we can get some investigators there as well so as for other investigators damien is the only really serious one jake is still doin pretty good but he is goin to uni so he gets caught up in that and doesn't focus on the scripts much but he said he would read 2 nephi 31 which is all about the doctrine of christ and so hopefully after that he'll want to take it more serious and hopefully baptism. there the only two that are really progressing and we have a few less active families who are doin well the best one is the jackmanns they are abariginal a single mom with five kids we see them every week and we play heaps of games with them and then share a lesson with them its hard to get them to sit still for to long i was thinkin we should teach about reference next time with them ha. so ya things are great here the week has been a little bit sunnier but its rainy again today i actually quite like the rain its just on bikes sometimes the rain can get a bit annoying but the days like today when we are in a car and then playin touch i like the rain. ha so we did heaps of service saturday it was great we painted a fence in the park for like 3 hours then we went to a less active families house and they were cleanin up the yard so we helped them for 2 hours it was great i love service it feels good to get to do some work like that. it was real good but i never told you guys when i was doin some service awhile back i was mowin and i ran over a lizard it was huge it was like the size of a rabbit and it had super hard skin it was pretty nasty it freaked me out so random but all the dirt here or what they call dirt is just sand there is so much sand its all so lose the ground like doesn't pack down its weird as. hmm so i think thats it for all the random stuff so how is everything back home? so i think i may of already told you but if you get the time look up mormon messages they are great and if you can watch the infinite power of hope one and any givin by holland or monson or the football player who had the wheely chair at conference til he passed away i can't remember his name now but they are all great i watch them everytime we eat there are heaps of them we have like 100 on cds its great. i've been readin the new testament and i really enjoy it mattew is a great book i really like readin about the savior its the best. so the fireside we had yesterday was great the songs were awesome i love the hymns and church songs in general they are so powerful they made me think of mom last night tho i'm so thankful for the parents that we have on this earth they are such good examples for us in all that they do. i think of mom and dad often and everything they taught me it makes me sad sometimes cause of course i would love to get that letter from mom but thankfully i have a great family and i still get to hear from dad and the family often thanks heaps. and even tho i don't get the letters from mom there are times when i think about her that i know she there with us helpin us out like she always did her and the savior the two best guardian angels you could ask for no doubt. i'm so thankful to be a member of the church and to of been blessed with the best family and friends in the world the church is true the book is blue and i'm so happy to be apart of it. i was thinkin about it the other day ya know how cool it is to have apostles and prophets its the best the stuff we learn about is amazing and so many people don't take the time to listen and see what they could have in there life another challege for us is what mom challeged us to do a few years ago is to sit down every day and take time to notice the hand of god in our lives or the tender mercies of our heavenly father its crazy to realize it all the little things he does for us i've been tryin to do it but its somethin i'm gonna do better at so ya love you guys your the best livestrong oh and guess what i'm finally learnin the articles of faith took me 19 years but i have one through 8 memorized already and i use them in contacting its very powerful its a great way to have the spirit there from the beginning. anyways love you guys your the best hope all is well love Elder Dalton

week 4

so its the end of week 4 in australia and this week has been about the same as the rest some bad and some good. its been raining all week and we are on bikes so it gets a little wet ha but its fun and its suppose to keep raining until wednesday so more fun ahead of us still and the rain can really come down here it'll just be slowly dropping then out of nowhere its like they turned on the faucet. but its good it makes things more fun. so anyways last monday we went to dinner with levi who was a less active but is pretty active now and he took us to this seafood place he works at and i ate clams muscles peppered squid two types of fish ha it was a crazy experience and they weren't to bad except the clams they were rank to fishy for me i almost couldn't swallow them then on thursday we went over for lunch and to teach and i tried so octopus that is some nasty stuff but he eats it like candy there is no fat on that stuff though its like rubber but anyways thats the exciting stuff for food this week. as for a the actual missionary work we have 8 new investigators this week which is good and they all seem very keen so keep them in your prayers please and we are talkin to denise again thats the lady that dropped us a couple weeks back. and sis smith the less active lady says she really wants to know if this is the true church and how god answers her prayers not sure why the missonaries who baptized her didn't teach her this but it sounds like she has been waiting for a sign from god as an answer and so we started talkin about feeling and she was like really? thats how you know? and we were like yes didn't they tell you all of this when you were baptized but its all good we got her attention now and her son is really keen on it too and said he would be baptized but we haven't set a date yet so hoopefully all keeps goin well keep them in your prayers to please there great people she is super fun to be around. on saturday it was a great day we taught 7 lessons and everyone was keen and we got return appointments to all of them so thats good the one that really stuck out was on saturday we had the thought to go and visit one of the members in the ward but when we got there a different guy answered the door and he said come in elders i've been expecting you and he told us the story of how he's been inactive for quite some time and then just recently stuff started to fall into place so that day he said to himself if the elders come around i'll go to church so we were able to talk to him and teach a little bit and bore testimony of how our heavenly father watches out for us and is aware of us so it was really good and he came to church yesterday. and he has been havin headaches alot lately and its startin to worry him so he is gonna go get it checked out but he wanted a blessing and he asked me to do it and i was extremely nervous and i didn't say alot just cause blessings make me nervous cause i don't want to say somethin that isn't gods will so i try to really listen to the spirit so it was a pretty rough blessing but the spirit was extremely strong and he said it was exaclty what he needed and i know it was what i needed to have that experience. but it was a great experience. but the other days were good too we taught alot of people but saturday was just a really good day yesterday or sunday we had a fhe with the farrels they are the family we seen two weeks ago i think it was and we talked about prayer church and reading yesterday and played a game with them it was great they are a really fun family i like them and the mom especially wants to do better with everything she just struggles a little as everyone does. but i think thats about it for now gotta go do some shopping and play some touch as long as it doesn't start rainin to hard. love you guys so much your always in my prayers i hope all is well keep me updated on everything please. love elder dalton LIVESTRONG

3rd pday in Australia!

so i've been out for a month and half already crazy stuff the days just like run together it feels like ya just get a short hour nap inbetween ha its great i love when we are busy slow days are rough so this week was just like any other taught some some fell through some people want nothin to do with us but its all good we decided we need more faith never doubt anything so thats what we are tryin and its workin good so far had a few good lessons but jake the young kid we taught the resto to is back home in sydney for the week so we don't get to see him which is a bummer but its all good. so its tough to think that you guys are goin into fall cuz we are startin summer and i miss the fall big time thats my favorite time of year so here its spring and i bet its gettin close to 85 degrees here now and thats cold for all these guys they say it get to 40 degrees cel they say thats like 115 or somethin i don't know what i'm gonna do. as for what it looks like its a big city like 1.8 million people and little suburbs everywhere its pretty crazy and it turns ya around fast i drove one day this week and i had no idea where i was goin and its weird still to drive on the wrong side of the road but its actually easy to get use to its weird because the way i think is north here is actually south so i'm still tryin to figure it out but all i can see is houses so its hard i haven't seen much except on the flight i seen some of the terrain its really flat and red sand and random waterholes everywhere there trees are cool i'll try to get some pics on here not sure how to do it yet but i'll figure it out eventually and the flower birds of paradise is everywhere here everyone has them in there yard. there pretty and everyone has a dog but there all super fat its ridiculous and all the house we go in are super messy not use to that yet but i am use to the sunday clothes its weird to wear jeans now i love service tho its the best i wish we did more we get to paint a park fence on the 24th i'm super excited. so sorry this letter isn't great today not to many great stories but we did teach a few really good lessons this week and we are hopefully gonna have 2 people commited to baptism this week we have the faith god is doin the rest oh and we are doin the effort of course the church is true no doubt in my mind i don't always understand everyting but i know its all true. there is a great talk about the book of mormon by elder holland i think its called the saving grace or somethin sorry i can't remember but i love it and i want you to know that i bear witness of the truthfulness of this church and the book of mormon and the prophets of this day i'm no special person but i would give my life anytime rather then deny the truthfulness of this church i know its true and i love gettin the chance to tell everyone i seen that i know that and can promise that this church is true that our redeemer lives and it can and will bless everyones life that is willing to follow gods commmandments. just so you guys know the US lost in the world cup which is rugby and its goin on now and man is it hard to talk to people when the matches are on they like the footy and rugby footy is a strange game not so sure about it yet but rugby is great anyways this letter is kinda everywhere.
love you guys and gals love elder dalton

2nd email in Australia!

so this last week was good and rough but as for the questions i am right next to perth everything is in subarbs here and i'm in the belmont subarb area and we ride probably close to ten miles a day i would think some days maybe more and other days less. but no i haven't seen any kangaroos yet which is a little dissappointing but i'm excited to see one the birds are really funny here though they make a weird noise its crazy and there are some pretty colorful ones i'll see if i can get a picture of some and the crows make the weirdest noises. pretty crazy stuff but its cool but when your just in the city and stuff its not that different then the us sometimes its very similiar there is even a ikea ha made me think of lissy and a target and stuff.
so as for the week it was good and rough it had its ups and downs we had one really good day we taught jake a 19 your old guy who is goin to uni here thats college and his grandma is a member but thats about it for his family but we taught the restoration and he was super keen he was just watchin us and askin questions the spirit was so strong we are goin back to meet with him this week so if you want to study somethin(annie cause you were askin) and anyone else get ahold of preach my gospel and study the restoration and really study it its great i love sharin it especilly when ya share the first vission super powerful we met a guy on the street and we taught him this and i told him the first vision and wow it was powerful and he was like ya thats great thats what i've been thinkin cause i've been disappointed with my religion and we got a appointment with him but when we went back he said he couldn't talk and that we needed to come back another time so hopefully it works out. so we were teachin this lady named denise and we have taught her a few times and she came to church and we did some service and we taught her again about church and commndments and blessing from prayer and she hadn't drank for a week then we prayed with her she said it and it was powerful she started to cry and asked heavenly father for help and then after the prayer we sat there talked for a min then like 5 min later she says i don't think you guys should come around anymore i think i'll just keep livin life and die in sin and go to hell thats what she said and i was like i didn't expect that it was like a stab to the heart i think she is just overwhelmed and didn't know what to expect so we are gonna give her a week and she said we could still come around and see her and she would just tell us whether or not she wanted to talk. so ya hopefully it works out so yesterday was a fireside after church so we had some people lined up to go and they all backed out and the last moment so that waskinda rough then we thought about this guy who is 50 years old and is always on the street sellin art i think he is a little slow but a great guy and he is always askin if we have night church so we rode to his house nocked on the door he was on the phone seen it was us put the phone down and asked is there church and we said yes so he went and got changed hopefully the call wasn't important ha but it was great the fireside was great and he loved it it was on courage so he wants to come again. thats about it for the week i get to play some more touvh today thats always fun and we have a fhe planned too so its a good day.

First Pday in Australia!

Hey Family,
First off i'm in Australia its goin on a week. the week has been good but filled with alot of learning which is fun actually. so on thursday i went and got my bike and my drivers lisence and then went to the office met my trainer and had lunch and an orientation meeting my trainer is great he is from california his name is elder weber and he is awesome extremely smart and knows how to talk to people its crazy how easy it is for him to get to know someone then just start teaching when i try to talk to someone it sounds like i have a stutter and can't get anything out ha but its alot of fun to keep tryin i think i've improved a little since the first day at least i hope. so its just him and myself in the flat(apartment) its a pretty small little flat but bigger then the hagerman one ha so on friday we had a few appointments set but they all fell through in the moring but then we had sport night and brought jake an investigator with us to play volleyball and basketball. on and on friday morning we played touch which is touch rugby and it was great i love it there was like twenty missionaries cause they all came down for the transfer and stuff any ways back to friday we played sport and then we came home and slept i really enjoy my sleep lately my body doesn't feel tired but my spirit gets wore out or somethin so on saturday we had a few appointments we taught like 3 lessons it was good the people here are really nice they just don't think they need the gospel in there life but oh man are they wrong ha so saturday was good i enjoyed and we've tracted almost everyday cause we are on bikes we have no car so we ride everywhere and we talk to everyone we pass so i'm tryin to work on that and we went door to door one evening and well the people weren't exactly welcoming but it was good. oh and by the way today is pday its monday here almost 12 but its late sunday night for you guys. so we are 13 hours a head of you so i'm in your future i'm like a time traveler anyways back to topic saturday was good we had like 6 people who said they would come to church. so saturday i don't even remember fallin asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow i was out it was the best sleep ever its weird tho i keep havin dreams about missionary stuff kinda strange so sunday was good we went around and visited to people before church and then walked to church with denise who is a older lady that is investigator and so church is pretty small definitely not island park i think there was probably about 60 people at church but it is a ward and they are great people real nice and they all wanna help out with the missionary work which is awesome so we had three people come to church that are our investigators and on is a family they seem pretty keen so hopefully they'll want to be baptized here shortly but they aren't married and they have four kids and guess what lesson was taught in relief society thats right the law of chastity so hopefully all is well with that i hope so we are goin to teach her on thursday i think so we'll find out so we taught the lesson in sunday school and priesthood so that was fun after church we went and met with patience a investigator i think or she might be a less active talked about paryer it was great she is african and has two twin two year old boys who are crazy it was fun. then we had a dinner appoinment she made veggie soup and it wasn't that bad actually but they are a great couple they are older but supper nice it was great to meet them then we tried to stop by a few peoples houses but they were all dark and it was like 830 so we came home but it was great so today is pday and we are atthe library then shoppin and playin touch this afternoon then we have a fhe appoinment and a few others so it'll be good i'm loviin here so good news my address will be the same address for the whole two years so that'll be nice for you guys only need to know one address for the whole time and you can send packages and letters to it and the address is the one i sent you last week so hopefully you still have it if not i'll send it to you another time only bad part about that is i only get mail once a week so ya but thats cool that way i can stay focused and then have one really good mail day ha
Elder Dalton.