The Birthday Week

Happy Birthday to everybody that has had a birthday this past week!!!!!! 

Happy Birthday Dalton. We Love You!!!

Ya hi Baby Patrick your uncle Dalton loves you!!!!:)  Congrats Dani and Caleb on the awesome son of God that Patrick is and I KNOW that you guys will raise him the best that you guys know how and that is what the Lord has intended to happen.  Well I guess happy birthday to me too.:)  This past week has been one the greatest birthday weeks ever and my birthday on Saturday was AWESOME!!!!:)  My flat mates and companion made it so much fun and I can't thank them enough.  Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you so much for the package!!!!!!  I got it on Tuesday by a special delivery haha by President and Sister Back.  It was kind of scary because when they called us and told us to meet them at our flat we were a little nervous but then they had my package and it was awesome!!  Haha they also did a flat inspection but thankfully it was pretty clean and we passed.:)  But thank you so much for the package and everything inside of it.:)  Haha I missed my socks and its good to have some color now instead of just black and grey.  Also thank you for the ties there sweet and it'll be nice to have some new ones.  Thanks Dani and Caleb and John and Patrick and Rotor for the one tie it is so awesome and I love it so much.  Haha everybody in the flat is jealous of it.:)  Thank you so much Sister J______ for awesome cookies they are so cool and everybody loved them all of them made it safe except for one it was just a little cracked but still good and they tasted great so tell Sister J______ thanks from all of us.  Thanks for everything else inside of it the books and the cookbook it'll be way nice to have when I'm no longer with Elder Plata.  Thanks also for the quote book I love quotes I have them written all over the place and the ones in the book are really awesome.  Thank you so much for the package it was so awesome to get and I felt my families love in it.:)
My birthday has been great and haha man oh man did we have a party!!!!:)  So Saturday morning we woke up and we put up all of the decorations and then I opened my package.  Haha that was the worst part of the week waiting all the way until Saturday to open it but it made it that much better to have something to open on my birthday.  On Saturday during our lunch we went to a butcher's shop to buy the biggest steaks we could find.:)  and guess what happened while we were there we were just about to pay for the steaks and a member came up to us and payed for the steaks but they didn't just pay for the steaks they also had the butcher's throw in some ribs and sausages and payed for all of that to.  All in all it was like $100 worth of meat and man it was so nice.  We also bought a grill earlier in the week.  We went to Bunning's and we were looking for the grill that you said dad but they were all sold out so they sold us this one for $10 it's a yellow painted bucket with a grill on top and they also sold us a HUGE bag of charcoal discount because the bag was open.  Haha so for the rest of my mission I'm going to carry around my 2 favorite cooking tools.  Haha my popcorn bowl and my little bucket barbecue.:)  So Saturday night we grilled up the steaks and they were literally as big as my face.  Next time I'm at the chapel I'll send you all the pictures I took a lot because I know you guys love pictures. We also cooked up the ribs and sausages and Elder Plata made some really good cheesy garlic potatoes and we had a feast!!!  Oh ya and also there is a store in Campbell-town that sells lollies and fizzie and treats from all around the world.  In the store they sell Dr. Pepper from America and so Elder Plata for my birthday bought me a 12 pack.  It was so nice of him because it was like $20 but man it was awesome to have a Dr. Pepper with our giant feast.  Elder Plata also made "peach float" which is one of my favorite things that he makes its just like an ice cream cake with peaches and graham crackers and man it's so good.  Haha so that was my birthday cake.  It was such a fun night after the feast we played some card games and ate popcorn.:)  It was so nice to have a party that night and so nice of President Back to let us have a party with the flat mates.  Also the day before at our DTM and the missionaries in the district threw a big party for me with cake and heaps of junk food and man it was awesome!!!  Don't worry mum I am still most definitely being taken care of over here.:)  Sunday night last night the O______ family had us over to celebrate my birthday and haha we had another big feast with a lot of yummy food and Sister O_____ made one of my favorite things here in Australia it's called Pavlova.  It's pretty much just a cake made out of sugar and fruit and haha man oh man it's so good.  So I have had a great birthday over here and to be honest it has been one of the best birthday's ever!!!  I missed you guys but hey we will have heaps of birthdays to celebrate when I get home.:)

Must have been quite the PARTY!!!!!

This week has been good for the work but kind of slow as well.

We are working so hard with a Sister named A_____.  She is less-active and we have been trying so hard to get here to come to church and we are going to keep trying.  We are also working with C___.  So the reason you guys haven't heard much about C____ is that we just barely got introduced to him a couple weeks ago.  So the Tongan speaking elders that go to a ward right by ours have been teaching him lately.  They were the ones who found him and have been teaching him but were C____ lives is in our ward boundaries so the Tongan elders are slowly moving him over to us and taking themselves out of the picture this is the week that we are really going to start teaching him and taking over but the fast that we did with him on Saturday we heard went really well and thank you for those that did join in with the fast we really appreciate it and I can't thank you enough for that.  We are working towards March 27 for him to be baptized and we will see how it  goes but I know that God is over it all and it will all work out according to his will and his plans and his time.  Mom thank you so much for A_____ gift she loved it!!!!  Haha I love A_____ she is such a sweet girl.  Also all of the my flat mates tell you thank you for the CTR rings and bracelets we all wear them each day and they are a good reminder.  We have been doing a lot of finding lately but it has been hard because it has been so hot!  Haha it seems to never cool down here even at nights.  We have to take a lot of breaks and make sure we don't get dehydrated.  So this week we had the opportunity to fast twice two days in a row.  So on Saturday we fasted with C_____ and then we fasted on Sunday as well because it was fast Sunday.  It was pretty hard and kind of weird for our bodies but it was also such a blessing.  My testimony of fasting has grown so much on my mission and every time I have fasted He has blessed me it amazes me every time.  If we are willing to show the Lord that we are willing to give something up because we need help he helps and blesses us more then we imagined.

Wise Words from the Elder!

I am doing great and I am having the time of my life out here on my mission.  I am learning and growing and changing and serving and having so much fun all at the same time.  The joys of the work of the Lord truly is one of the greatest joys in this world and I am so grateful that I am a part of it right now at this time in my life.  The Lord watches over all of us and helps all of us.  I remember a couple months ago when I was going through the hardest time of my life and I felt like giving up.  I made it through with the help of my best friend and now I am becoming a better person.  I cannot express my gratitude enough for how much I love my Savior Jesus Christ and my father in heaven and I just want to make them proud and I know that by me serving a mission I am making not only them proud but also my family back home in Utah.  I love all of you guys and I can't wait to see what this chapter of my life brings titled '"19" Keep up the great work and if we all do we will achieve the prizes of all prizes Celestial Glory!! 



Thanks everybody for everything thanks mum and dad for everything and for everything for my birthday and thanks everybody for all the money I'll have to buy something cool with it.  Congrats once again Dani and Caleb I love you guys Hi John have fun with your new little brother.  Patrick what's up mate? Don't let your older brother pick on you to much.  I love all of you guys and have a wonderful week because I know I am going to have a great week no matter what!!! :)

Love Elder Stott