The Best 2 Years!!!!

Nearly 2 years ago I left everything behind.  

My family, friends, hobbies, biggest dreams and desires to go to a foreign land to go on an adventure.  I left as a young boy not really knowing what life was all about and not really knowing what I wanted for my life.  Now today I am about to return home from this amazing 2 year adventure not as a young boy but as a man.  Now knowing what life is all about, I still might not know about the future but I  no longer fear the future because I know it is in good hands.  I came out 2 years ago as a young missionary thinking God was real and thinking the Church was true because that was what I was taught but I didn't know for sure.  Now I am coming home and man oh man I KNOW God is Real and that Jesus Christ lives and is the Savior and Redeemer of not just the world but also of my own life.  Before my mission I had a lot of best-friends and I still have so many great friends that I love and look up to but my best friend now and forever will be my Eldest Brother Jesus Christ.  He is amazing! And I try to be just like Him.  I think about the Christlike Attributes in Preach My Gospel and how I have tried to make them my life.  To be become more patient and loving, to become more humble virtuous, to become more charitable and happy, and to become a diligent hard worker and so so many more.  2 years ago I placed my life in God's hands with a bit of uneasiness not knowing if it was going to work out or not.  Would He take care of me I asked?  Maybe I could do better on my own, but I trusted for a little while to see what would happen.  Now 2 years from then my life still is in God's hands because boy He most definitely has taken care of me and has blessed me far greater then I could have ever imagined.  At the beginning my Faith was small and unsure now my Faith is strong in what I know to be true and right.  I know life is hard my mission has been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life but having the Gospel in my life and having God always near has helped me and this I will continue to do for the rest of my life.  I am sorry if this is all over the place haha cuz to be honest that is how I am right now all over the place.  So many mixed emotions and mixed thoughts I don't really know what to say.  I have shared with you guys over the past 2 years experiences on my mission and feelings I have had and how my mission has changed me and what my goals are for the future.  When I come home I will be an open book and will tell you guys anything and everything that you guys want to know but not knowing what to write today I think I will just share my Humble testimony with you guys and wrap up.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Dear Family and Friends 

I share my testimony today with emotions that I cannot explain.  Haha I have already broke out crying in front of everybody in the library because my heart is full of peace and joy.  I testify and bear my witness one last time as a full-time representative that God lives!  And that He loves each and everyone one of us.  That He knows us by name and that He has a plan for each of us in this life and that plan is the perfect plan for us to return to live with Him.  His plan won't be easy but it will be worth it.  I testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world.  He is the Prince of Peace, the Holy Messiah, and King of Kings.  He came to this Earth to show us the way and to teach us how to be happy.  He extended the invitation to "Come Follow Me" and if we do we will find peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come.  

Our Eldest Brother performed the ultimate sacrifice for all of us to be able to be forgiven of our wrong doings and imperfections.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ it works and it is real!  If you don't believe it read the New Testament and ask Peter.  Christ's top Apostle soon to become the Prophet of the Church denied knowing Christ and he was forgiven.  I have not denied knowing Christ but I have committed many sins and mistakes.  I have made selfish choices and judged when I should not have judged.  I have repeatedly messed up and time and time again without fail or hesitation I have felt the Grace of God in my life that purifying power that comes through the Atonement of Jesus Christ cleanse me and make me whole again.  It is not easy to humble ourselves and admit that we messed up but when we do we let God and Christ into our lives and they make everything always better.  My testimony of the Atonement is so crucial to my life and it allows me each and everyday to repent and be forgiven of the wrong doings that I commit.  (Mosiah 26:30 & Isaiah 1:18)  

I testify of the 3rd member of the Godhead which is the Holy Ghost and how amazing of a role he plays in our lives.  As a missionary time and time again I have relied on the Spirit to help me in opening my mouth, to teach people, and to serve them and every time he was there!  I have come to see miracles on my mission and it was nothing of my own doing but of God's Plan and through the Spirit.  The Spirit has testified to me of things that are true and has through me testified to others that these things are true. (D&C 100:6)  

I know that we have a living day prophet in these the Latter-Days in Thomas S. Monson and the way the Church is ran and organized is exactly how Christ set up His Church.  

I know without a doubt that the boy Joseph Smith at the age of 14 saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in a grove of trees and that he was called upon from God to Restore the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with that ever so important Priesthood power which makes it all possible.  I know through that Priesthood power and the power of God that he translated the book we have today the Book of Mormon.  He was and still is a wonderful man and just like the hymn, "Millions shall come to know Brother Joseph again..." and millions are coming to know him and the amazing things that he did.  

I wish also to testify of all of the scriptures the Bible, Old and New Testament, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price but mainly about the Book of Mormon.  Before my mission I never read it.  I didn't see the importance in it and now as I look back I see how selfish and dumb that was.  How amazing the Book of Mormon is!!!  Man I love that book.  I have now read it and asked God if it is True and I testify to you guys that it is true!  This book has helped me so many times in my life as a struggling missionary to bring me peace, comfort, joy, and hope.  No other book could do that because this is the only true most correct record of God and Christ that we have.  I look forward to the rest of my life continuing in the study of the Book of Mormon and learning how to become the best Husband, Father, and Son that I can become in this life.  

I testify of trials that we have and face in this life.  My mission has been no easy adventure and going through things and times where I never thought there would be a way out.  But there always is and while we are going through those trials and tough times we must just stay strong, hold to the rod, and keep pressing forward.  I know God will never give us something that we cannot overcome and that all of our trials will be worth it in the next life if we but endure them well.  (Helaman 12:3 & Ether 12:27)  I have come to love, appreciate, and know that the Plan of Salvation is the plan God has for us to return to live with Him with our families forever.  It's the motivation that keeps us going on the right path because of the knowledge that it gives us and the hope that it let's us live with those we love forever!  There is life after this no doubt about it and what a blessing and privilege it is to know and have what we know and have.  I know that as we keep going and that as I keep going and pressing forward life will all work out.  

As I return home from my full-time service I will be a new changed person and I wish to praise God and serve Him as much as I can in gratitude for what He has done for me these past 2 years.  I testify and know that this Church is True once again that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ.  I love all of you guys so much and I thank you for all of the prayers and support over this 2 year journey to find myself.  He who loses his life in the service of God will find it. (D&C 103:27)  I have found my life as I have lost it in the service of God I have achieved what Heavenly Father has wanted me to achieve as a missionary and I feel inside that I will be Returning Home Honourably.  The Best 2 Years!!!  Until we meet again...whether it be in this life or the next life or in 9 days!:) HOLD TO THE ROD AND NEVER LET GO!!!!  In the Sacred Name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Love Elder Dalton William Stott  ASSM 2015-2017 

Coming Home Schedule

So our schedule for the last couple of days sounds like it will  be real fun! So a week from today so next Monday morning we will wake up and load our car and drive up to Mortdale where we will meet all of the other missionaries that are finishing and meet with President and Sister Bingham and we will go to the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge and all that stuff and then Monday night we will have dinner at the Mission Home and we will have a testimony meeting and share our "Dying Testimonies".  We also on Monday will have our final interview with  President Bingham and pretty much wrap up our mission as a whole.  Monday night we will sleep at the AP's flat and then wake up Tuesday morning and they all will take us to the airport where we will say our last goodbye's and then jump on the plane and come home to you guys.  That's the plan or at least what we have been told.:)  Sounds like a heap of fun!:)