Birthday Week

Dallin had a memorable birthday week.  He and Sion were finally able to work together for the entire week, they got some traction, and found some people to teach. His favorite family had him over for a birthday dinner (I seriously want to hug and kiss those people!) and they moved into a new house.  The move to the new place was kind of forced and it's not totally ready, but is much closer to their new area.  They don't have a filter for the rain water yet, so they have to use the UV light I sent him to try to sterilize it before using.  Hopefully the filter will arrive soon. 

He was definitely excited about being able to work hard and see results this week.  Work focuses him and helps him to forget about all the other things going on around him that are difficult.  They have been working hard, but with little results and it was becoming very frustrating.  His comments were brief, but I'll share what we got:

I think that it was really important that we found people this week because I wouldn't have survived if I had no people to teach. Things are certainly accelerating on all fronts, and we're really getting close to 9 months left here. 

Our new investigators are good. Toatau and Nei Tieen will be able to be baptized on the 7th if things go super well. Otherwise they'll be on the 14th. But they're really great investigators! We found them by just visiting less actives and tracting and asking everyone for referrals.

Toatau is the brother-in-law if our favorite recent convert Patrick. He is a good kid, and even though we've asked him over and over again he finally said yes for lessons this time. He's totally progressing and he came to church on Sunday. Once he finally got over his initial refusal, he's been great ever since. Nei Tieen is 12 and she came to church on her own before ever telling us she wanted lessons. Her young womens teacher brought her to us on Sunday and told us that she needed lessons. Tieen thought she had joined the church just by showing up, so she's fully on board!

(We commented on how amazing it is that he and Sion are still getting along so well.  Dallin loves having him as a companion.)

Oh boy, problems with Sion is the last thing I need haha! He and I are just stuck together in President's eyes. We have been told we will be together until Sion goes home in June. We'll just get transfer news together I guess. 

Dinner was great at Branch Pres. Bakaiaa's house. We had a cake and ice cream and some really, really good crab. That's my favorite I think. In the end it was my favorite dinner with my favorite family. Great people. I sure love them. 

A Funny Baptism

Not too much to report, me and Sion were back together. A replacement for Bettencourt came in Wednesday. We essentially had a whole week to work together and we just can't get anything going. We keep trying to get in contact with people and teach lessons and such but nobody wants to listen. The other churches are totally mobilized right now in fundraising and such because they had such low numbers for Christmas and we had such high ones. Everyone is really active in their own church right now and it makes finding people to teach really rough. We're hanging in there though. We taught like 6 lessons but we were just trying to do anything productive all week. 

We found a boat going to Fanning, but it leaves Wednesday.  We'll see if Pres Weir approves it and if missionaries will be able to get on it or not, but if it works out I might be in Fanning next Monday. Who knows though! No real transfer news yet. We're still just hanging out here for a while! 

Our recent convert Patrick was the main speaker at a young men's fireside and he talked about Joshua 1:9 and did an AWESOME job. He is my favorite guy on this island. He talked about how we need to be strong and courageous like David and Goliath and Joseph Smith and Nephi. He is the man, and he looked like a veteran up there. Hard to believe he's only been a member 3 months. Really good to have him so solid. 

We had a child of record baptism we got to help in, a really funny, cute kid named Julieta. Just a huge little kid hahaha! His dad baptized him and it was all super last minute because his mom works on a fishing boat for the government, and she happened to have a day on-island this Saturday. So we hurried to do her son's baptism so she could be around to see it and it was a great family thing. We were happy for them all. 

Funny story: we did his baptism oceanside, and the dad timed the prayer and the actual baptism poorly, so when he went down to put his son underwater, the wave was in a lull so there wasn't enough water to cover this chubby kid's belly hahaha!  So, the dad held him under until the next wave came and covered his belly! Probably a good 7 seconds, the kid was starting to freak out. So so so so funny. It was one of the most hilarious scenes ever. He came up and he hit his dad and we were all cracking up. Our branch president ran down to the edge of the water and gave him a hug and it was just so funny all around. Their family is getting ready to go to the temple in May/June, so we're excited they are all baptized now and they will all be able to be sealed together. Great family. 

Because the work is so slow here, I just feel so guilty sending stats in to president. I hope he's not disappointed, honestly it looks like we're not doing anything, especially because we were so productive just 2 months ago. It's painfully slow right now. 

(Ed responded to Dallin about his concerns: "Don't worry about stats - worry about effort.  That's a very important difference.  In your letters, talk about your efforts and give some examples.  Your mission president understands the nature of the work itself.  I've always said that there is no formulaic approach to missionary work - you can't simply treat it like an equation of "X" hours of work will yield "Y" results.  People are always coming up with calculations that might be true "on average" but the Lord doesn't work with averages, he works with individuals.  You'll be guided to the people who are prepared - in the meantime you have to work however you can so that you are in the right place at the right time.  That's hard to see/measure and harder still to feel like you're making a difference and doing the right things without tangible results.

I know it can be hard on a companionship to be working so hard together, especially after so much success just a short time ago, and to still feel like you're being good missionaries- don't succumb to that kind of thinking.  Your daily work efforts are important.  Keep it up.")

People are trying to help us! One of our favorite members Rodney gave us a referral this week, and we contacted the guy while he was at work. He told us where his house was and everything, plus a time to go visit him. So we were excited! But we go to the house and it is not this guy's house- its the KPC minister's house. Of course, we didn't know that until we were on the doorstep talking to the man himself. So we got told "not to mess with my sheep" by a (not so) wonderful minister for the KPC. Not a happy contacting experience. 

Your brother Tom wrote me a really nice email this week. He talked about how when he was at the same point on the mission where I am right now, how he got moved from the Chinese side of the mission to the English side of the mission for 5 months. He said it was the hardest and least enjoyable time for him because he was just trying to build up missionaries who were struggling in one way or another. But he said that even though there wasn't a lot of work success at that time, looking back he feels successful because he was able to really grow a lot because of it. I don know how much you share with Tom but that made me feel so great about all of this. I'm trying to build some character.  Attitude is clearly a hard piece of it and I'm doing my best. He really is the man. 

Its been so nice to hear from so many people! (He has REALLY appreciated all the emails and birthday wishes.) 

Thank you!

Love - Dal

A Story of Great Faith

We were so happy to hear from Dallin today!  He continues to serve on Christmas Island, but has moved to be companions with Elder Grover in Banana.  Grover's companion had to go home this week and everyone was really sad.  Since Grover finishes his mission in about a month he really just wants to work hard and finish strong.  Dallin decided he would go work with him until either another missionary is sent or Grover is done.

"I feel so bad for him. He has like 30 days left on his mission and all he wants to do is work, but his companion just went home. So my job this week was just to let Grover work as hard as he wanted and help him not be upset about how his time is finishing. Tough task. I'm really tired. Sion is in a trio with Aru and Openshaw in Tabwakea. It stinks for our area, because now they have two areas to focus on again and so since we have no people, tracting in London is low on their priority list. Sion and I will have our work cut out when we're back together."

We asked how all that hard work had payed off in Banana:

"They're out of people, just like in London. We did find people, 6 or so. We just tracted again. I think I hate tracting more than anything else haha its so inefficient! We tracted for like 4 hours on Tuesday and luckily we found some people."

"We had a really good experience with a family we have been teaching:

There is one investigator out here named Teraina. her husband's name is Tioti. They can't get baptized because they can't get married yet because Tioti is like 20 and you have to be 21 without a parental signature. ANYWAY, we had a lesson with them, and they said that they were totally out of money. Like, zero cents. AND they have a baby who they have to have food for. So they decided to pray and send Tioti out to the town even though he had no money (they live literally just randomly out in the bush, I have no idea how Grover found them). As soon as he was out of sight from the house, Tioti got off his bike and prayed again for his family. When he was done he headed towards town. Probably just 20 yards from the main road, he saw a small red rectangle on the ground. He got off his bike and it was a $20 Australian bill! Here, $20 is like 2 weeks of food for Tioti and his family!  It will carry them over until his fishing boat paycheck gets in. Really cool story about prayer and faith and works."


Dallin has been feeling a little down and forgotten lately.  Being so isolated for so long can create a difficult mental exercise for missionaries.  I asked some of our friends and family to send him words of encouragement and early birthday wishes (his birthday is coming up on Feb. 20th).  I'm sure he appreciated all his messages, but the message from Bro. Hopkins really stood out to him.  Ed and Dallin were blessed to home teach the Hopkins for several years.  Dallin absolutely LOVED visiting them and they are a couple of his favorite people.  It was an added blessing for him to be able to receive his patriarchal blessing from Bro. Hopkins. This is what he had to say:

"I really liked Bro. Hopkins email. It made me feel better. I hadn't read my patriarchal blessing in a
while. I feel like there was a lot I got out of it. He's really a great patriarch. I actually wrote about the Hopkins in my journal this week. They're truly great people. Days are definitely not easy. But I'm doing my best to keep going through them. I miss and love you and Mom a lot. Especially lately. Thanks for all your support and prayers. I've really been needing them and I feel it. Thanks so so much."

Not Much Time

Dallin sent a quick email, but there wasn't much time.  He is happy Elder Sion has returned and they are trying to get back to a normal routine.  He was really disappointed to hear from President that he probably wouldn't be transferred until March.  He is anxious to experience something new, but is happy to do whatever is asked for the time being.

He did get his Christmas package.  They must have sent it with the new missionaries.  We sent a few necessities as well as a bunch of candy and little toys to give to the kids in his area.  "I actually somehow got my Christmas package! They must have sent it on from Tarawa, I'm lucky it came last week! Thank you so much! Me and Sion had a blast building Legos haha."  

It also included letters from friends, family, and a bunch of his college/hometown friends.  His friend Matt created a riddle hidden throughout his letter.  "I really did love that.Those kids are the best. I'm glad Matt still respects me enough to be clever to me haha great guy. We gave the hot wheels to our branch President's daughter, and she loved it, she's a cute little kid."

The Island was running low on water and a big storm came through.  "We had a super fun service: picking up trash after a HUGE tsunami style wave came over our branch President's sea wall. We were there when it happened and it was so big! Really scary/cool. Too fast for a camera but amazing nonetheless. It was just huge surf kicked up by a big thunderstorm. I hadn't heard thunder in so long -loud! Waves like that don't happen very often at all. It hardly ever rains, but it rains right when we're about to run out."

That was it for this week's update.  He is healthy and happy and learning a lot about patience.  I know he will enjoy getting to know some new missionaries on the island before being transferred again.

The Boat Came Back Early!

We heard briefly from Dallin last night.  His companion has been gone to the outer island Fanning for the last week.  A barge goes out to take supplies every 3 months and the missionaries go to visit the branch.  Dallin was excited that the boat was back 4 days early and glad to be back with Elder Sion.

The work has been rough this last week and he and his temporary companion have been trying to work all 3 areas while they wait for Elder Openshaw and Elder Bettencourt to arrive.  He had a heart-wrenching story where a new investigator got upset and started drinking again, but they were able to keep many of their people moving in the right direction.

He thinks he will be transferred in the next 2 weeks with Sion to somewhere new, but no details yet.  He didn't have much time, but seems to be in good spirits and healthy.  Small world... Elder Openshaw actually went to Timpview High School and knows Dallin's friend Kalani!  We are anxious to hear where he will be transferred and what his next adventure will be!

Quick Update

We did get to email with Dallin this Sunday, but there wasn't much to say after Skyping a few days earlier.  He is preparing to cover all three areas on Christmas with Elder Aru while Elder Grover and Elder Sion go on the boat to Fanning for just under 2 weeks.  He spent the last few days getting to know the Banana area and visited Poland (yes, there are villages named Poland and London on this island) to see what could be done there. He still thinks that he and Sion will be going into Tarawa fairly soon, but not until they get Christmas fully "staffed" and running smoothly.

He was super excited to hear the news that our dear friends had a beautiful baby girl.  He can't wait to see pictures of her.

Two new elders will be arriving this week and will need to be acclimated.  Elder Pettingill was supposed to come (I am friends with his mom on Facebook), but has a HOLE in his foot from being on Beru.  Yes, a hole. (If you want to see a picture, click here and scroll down to the last picture of the post.) Thankfully they are keeping him close to the nurse until it is healed a little more.  So Elder Bettencort is coming instead and I think that will be great! (I also know his mom from Facebook :)  There has been a lot of success on Christmas, and I think there is potential for a lot more.  Hopefully these Elders will be able to find the people who are ready.

I had to go after only a few emails back and forth because Taylor was stranded at church with a car that wouldn't start.  She went to sacrament meeting with a friend who was getting confirmed after being baptized the day before.  This was on top of going to our 3 hour block and teaching YW for her leader.  But we all know that no good deed goes unpunished, so there she sat in the parking lot.  We called AAA and waited 4 HOURS!  Apparently every old car in our town broke down in the freezing temperatures.  Dallin drove this Honda before his mission and upon hearing the news immediately replied "She's destroying my car!"  To which she replied, "I guess I'm just really jealous of the bond you guys had so I'm purposefully beating him up."  I guess that missionary "glow" does not extend to sibling kindness when your old car breaks down.

(Obviously they were just kidding...)

Skype!

We got a surprise email on Wednesday night that said internet was up and the Branch President had given them a working computer!  Dallin said that he would be calling us on Skype the next day.  Great... but it's the middle of the week, the girls are in school, and Ed is out of town.  Sigh.  So I picked the girls up early from school and called Ed to warn him that he would have to excuse himself from meetings and join us on the phone.

He was able to Skype and it was so wonderful to see his face and hear his voice.  It is amazing the comfort it brings just to see and hear him.  He looks healthy and happy and has only a slight accent.  As much as he misses his sisters, they can still annoy him within a matter of a few selfies (see pictures below).  It was good to see that things were as they should be :)  He ended with us a little early and then called Ed later that night when he was at a computer so they could see each other as well.

I really think that getting this Skype will give him the boost he needs.  I know it was just what I needed.