Our Christmas Face Time call was just the best ever! We spoke to Dalton on our Christmas Day so the day after Christmas for him. Thank you so much to Josh and Naomi Shoobridge for opening their home for Dalton to Face Time and for working out the technology bugs.
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| There he is!!!! |
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| With Sweet Hayley Shoobridge |
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| With cute Alex Shoobridge, his back pack buddy. |
Dalton is doing great! There is just no other way to say it. He is totally immersed in missionary work and totally comfortable in Australia. He is loving the area where he is serving right now and gets to stay for another transfer which he is so excited about.
He started out Christmas week by driving 6 hours one way up to Sydney for the annual Christmas Conference which he said he absolutely loved. We have received a few pictures from other missionary moms via Facebook so I will post those, but Dalton said he has tons of others so we will include those when he does his normal email to us this weekend.
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| Reunited with Elder Newman! |
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| Former companions, Elder Newman, from Tremonton and Elder Plata from the Phillipines |
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| Former companions Elder Leal from Shelley, Idaho, Elder Newman and Elder Delahunty on the end from Draper, UT |
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| The initial district from the MTC. The Elder in the front in the blue suit is Elder Cummings from Salt Lake City who was Dalton's MTC companion. The sister on the left is the only one left serving, the other sisters have returned home having fulfilled their service. This sister in this photo was returning home later that week. |
He then attended the Merimbula Branch Christmas party on Friday evening which was held at the park. That's so funny to us when we have 3 feet of snow outside. :-) When we were face timing with Dalton he looked pretty hot. lol
Christmas Eve day was the weekly Park Run.
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| Park Run with the Shoobridge's |
Then on Christmas Day he spent time with the wonderful Shoobridge family and enjoyed a Christmas walk. We are so grateful to them for their love and support of the elders. Bless them!
On Face Time we talked and talked about everything. We got to meet the Shoobridge's, D_______ and Elder Tingey which was awesome! After our Face Time since it was P-day the Shoobridge's took the Elders golfing! I know Dalton was in heaven!
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| We sent Elder Tingey a USU shirt, not sure why he has that BYU one on- :-) |
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| Elder Tingey |
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| Love the hat! |
Some highlights of our Face Time are:
- He says his ties are looking pretty worn. :-)
- He loves the fish and chips in the area where he is serving right now
- Him and his companion hit a kangaroo with their car the other day. AHHHH!
- He finally saw a Koala Bear and we learned all about Drop Bears. Click here to see about them. ;-)
- He had a wood tick stuck in his head about a month ago. AHHHHH!!!
- We learned that "R's" aren't pronounced to much in Australia. We learned this when we told him that we had to google what "arvo" meant when he used it in his letter the other day/ (It means afternoon) Anyway, when we pronounced it we included the "r" and he started laughing at us so hard. He said it's pronounced more like "avo." We didn't think he had too much of an accent but he definitely used all the different types of Australian words.
- The elders aren't allowed to go by the beaches right now and when we asked him if it was because of the the women in bathing suits, his reply was "yeah, sometimes they wear bathing suits." AHHHHHH!!
- The missionary work in Merimbula is very slow right now as the population of the town has tripled but those people are all tourists. He says he loves doing service there though and he knows the area is in the Lord's hands and if they keep working hard, the work will happen.
- Hell and damn are not considered swear words in Australia. lol But Dalton said he still considers them to be and never says them. Ahh, what a good son. ;-) He wouldn't even say them when he was telling us this.
-His very most favorite food was one he had a lot in MacArthur that a member would make a lot for him called Chop Suey. He says she is the best cook, and that she even makes better Shepherd's Pie than dear old mum. AHHHHHH! Just kidding, mum is great with that, just so grateful for those who take such good care of him.
-We learned how the branch in Merimbula is set up. Dalton says that the Branch President is amazing and runs it very well. There are only about 35 members in the branch and that includes the children. Dalton doesn't have to speak too often in the branch but him and Elder Tingey get to take the Sacrament to those who aren't able to attend church each Sunday. He seemed like he loved doing this.
-We ended with a family prayer offered by Dad that included our new family members, the Shoobridge's. It was a perfect way to end our Face Time and we feel so blessed to have been able to see and and interact with him. He has matured so much. His mission has taught him so much. One comment that didn't make mum and dad too happy that he said was that we will Skype again for mother's day and then before you know it it will be time to Skype again for Christmas! Whaaaaaaaat?!?! No way Dalton, you will be here in person next Christmas!!!! We are so happy that he is so happy serving and doesn't want to come home. I knew that would happen, who wouldn't want to leave one of the most beautiful places on earth doing the most amazing work on earth? But we know when the time comes he will be excited to come home and we will be so excited to see him!
- You can just see the light of missionary service in him and his testimony radiates from him. How grateful we are for this opportunity he has had to serve. He has brought many blessings with his service.
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