This week has been really long and just kind of boring. I feel like there hasn't really been anything to write about except: birthday Monday, lessons on Sacrifice, and answering questions on how I'm doing. I know that not every week can be full of amazingness. Still the work moves forward, and so do I.
After we had emailed this last Monday, we went out for our Birthday lunch. We went to a steak house at a large mall called Eastgate. We bought the buffet and ate to our hearts delight; it made sport hard to play later. It was nice to enjoy a good meal with Elder Palmer and a few other missionaries. We talked about our missions so far, home, and our futures. It was like the Sons of Mosiah might have talked around a good meal. It was worth it all. The rest of the day we played sport and hung out. It was a relaxed day with good friends.
Later that week on Friday, we were preparing for our district meeting when we got a call. Our district leader had forgotten to tell us about a zone meeting that day and told us we were now 20 min late. It was not a total loss for us, we made it half way through the meeting, and I learned a simple but powerful lesson: Our leaders talked about Sacrifice and how the law of sacrifice applies to us and our investigators. I was shocked to hear that this has been a theme through your lives as well. It inspired me to teach our investigators to sacrifice for God and show him the evidence of our faith. We taught that sacrifice is giving up something that is of great worth for something greater, and that we shouldn't expect a reward for it. Luckily for us, we know our sacrifices for the Lord never go without a reward, but are made up in the blessings from heaven. The question we left for them to ponder is, “If God gave up his son as a sacrifice, Jesus Christ gave his life as a sacrifice, what are you willing to sacrifice?"
So many of you have asked me questions on how I'm doing and what thoughts are going through my mind. I can say that I still love the mission; maybe even more than at first. Emotionally, serving a mission tries me and I have my downs. But working through the feelings of home sickness and serving others erase them quickly. When I find myself down, I try to serve my companion and in turn it makes us both happier. I've learned that a mission was never meant to be easy, and that a mission can turn us into great men, if we let it. Being on a mission it like throwing raw ore into a furnace, it burns out all the impurities so that the purest material is left. My greatest advice for anyone doing something hard is to just keep going. Our Heavenly Father knows how much struggle we can handle, and we must hope and have faith in brighter skies. In the meantime, look towards the blessings you already have and stop focusing on the ones you don’t.
I'm sorry to say there was no package this week, but that ups my chances for this week. I hope that you all are doing well and are getting excited for Halloween! Work on doing everything Heavenly Father asks of you, and then things will work out. Remember he has to keep his promises :)
I love you all very much and know I'm the same crazy guy you love. I'm handling things; it's what Dalton's do, right?!
Love your Son and Brother,
Elder Jack Forrest Dalton
ALWAYS FORWARD SOUTH AFRICA :)
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