Monday, December 7, 2009

The Arrival...

I received this letter from Dallin this morning and thought I'd share. He sounds like he's doing great. The pictures were from the day he arrived in S. Africa sent from the Mission Pres. in a seperate email today.

So this past week ish we have been working with these two young men named Vuse and Moroti they have been being taught for sometime now and they were extending their property so we helped them tear down there wall and rebuild it back up it was a lot of hard work. Their mom died about 2 months ago and they are in love with the plan of salvation. there uncle in times past has told us that his faith in god has been lost. anyways as we were going and helping day in and day out there uncle was there and he told us that because we were there helping them out his faith in god had been restored because no other church has ever helped like we have. We set up an appointment to see Vuse Moroti and there uncle on saturday. when we showed up Moroti was the only one there and he is about 16 and a complete stud. we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith repentance baptism, gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end) When we got to the part about baptism he stopped us and said i wanna be baptized as soon as possible because when you guys come and when i'm reading i feel overwhelming happy and when i pray for strength everything in life seems easier and like i can handle things :) so me and Elder Sederholm were in shock so we told him to aim for the 10th of january. then we told him he needs to come to church and asked him to get vuse and his uncle to come to church as well. Well yesterday was sunday and Church had started and i was a little sad that none of them showed up and then lo and behold about 10 minutes into the meeting in walk Vuse and Moroti and guess who was right behind them.... their uncle haha i was propably smiling from ear to ear i can't even explain the happiness and love you have for people as they draw closer to christ and make those steps to become better.
Then we were sitting there and Sacrament was drawing to a close and Kenneth another one of our investigators gets up and walks to the front. Me and Sederholm turned to each other and grinned. We actually found Kenneth together and at first we thought he was what we call a golden investigator. he told us in a lesson about a week ago that he didn't want to be baptized quite yet until he received an answer so we were a little discouraged but continued to work with him at the fullest. anyways he goes up to the stand and says this " Brothers and Sisters yesterday i was watching the soccer game when and Elder Craven and Elder Sederholm paid me a visit, i told them i was busy and that i couldn't have a lesson tonight but that i would see them at church tomorrow. when they left i continued watching the game and i felt really really good and happy and got excited to come to church. i took this as my answer that the Book of Mormon is True and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet." Holy cow i have never been happier in my life i cant even describe how much joy i have.
I'm serving in an Area called Kagiso, i'm not really sure how many areas are in my mission there are at least 90 areas ha ha so its pretty big. the weather here is Summer time, its way too hott but i'm coping ha ha. We walk/ride bikes everyday besides for tuesdays we get a car so that we can take members to and from appointments. i'm living in a 4 man flat and we share the car with the other 2 elders and they get the car the other 6 days cause there area is bigger but because we work harder we get more baptisms even though our area is much much smaller. the area is all black people and there pretty poor but they have an attitude like they are rich because they are so grateful for what they do have.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

It's Official !!!

Elder Craven was set apart last night at 7 pm. It was great to be a part of. I am sooo proud of Dallin and know he will be a great missionary. He goes into the Provo MTC this morning at 11 am to prepare and await the rest of his travel documents to arrive. He will then be on his way to South Africa. We will miss you Elder but couldn't be more proud.
Remember who you are, and what you stand for!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Tick tock...

Well time is flying by and reality is setting in. Dallin will be on his mission in less than two weeks. It has been a crazy couple of weeks for Dallin and his mom getting everything in order to go. Despite their efforts it doesn't look like Dallin will report to the Johannesburg MTC as planned. His visa isn't going to make it in time so he will start off in Provo. He isn't too dissapointed as Chase, Levi and Jordan will be there and he is looking forward to seeing them again.Dallin's farewell is this Sunday, the 18th. I am looking forward to him speaking. He has always had a knack for it and does a great job. His sacrament time is at 11am at the church on 5500 south, next to freedom elem.
As of my last conversation with Dallin, he will be going to the Provo MTC on October 27th.

That is all I have for now.
Stay tuned....

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Back by popular demand...

A few days ago Dallin called me to let me know he had received his mission "re"call. He will report to Johannesburg, S. Africa, Oct. 29 to the MTC there. I couldn't be more proud of Dallin for doing things the right way even though it definitely wasn't the easiest. He is going to be a great missionary!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Today was the day that reality set in. Dallin received his mission call!
Am I really old enough to have a son leaving on a mission? I had been communicating with Dallin, asking if he had heard anything yet this morning. He replied saying he hadn't and that he wasn't really expecting to hear anything today due to the holiday on Monday. So a little deflated, that ended our conversation.
About a half hour later I received a voicemail from him. In a much chipper voice he informed me that the letter had arrived at his Mom's house. So just like that the anticipation was incredible. I think I was more nervous than Dallin and if I wasn't he sure hid it well. After several phone calls it was just a matter of waiting until 6:00 PM to go to his Mom's house to watch him open his letter. Dallin had a whole room full of Family and Friends anxiously awaiting the news contained inside that envelope.
Dallin read; "You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission." Everyone, unable to contain ourselves any longer, cheered at the news. Dallin calmly continued to read the letter aloud for us, but at this point he had a huge grin on his face for the remainder of the letter. "You should report to the South Africa MTC on Thursday, 14 May 2009. You will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language. Your mission president may modify your specific assignment according to the needs of the mission."
Needless to say I am very proud of Dallin and this amazing commitment he has taken on. I have no doubt he will grow immensely from this experience and will be a great example for the people of South Africa. Dallin will be missed here at home but we all know that he is doing what he should be doing.
I Love You Dallin! And I am very proud of you