Elder Dallin Talbot's Mission Fresno California 2015-2017

This week has been good.  We only have 1 investigator at the moment and we have not been able to teach her recently but she told us not to give up on her so we are going to keep her in our prayers.  We have been really trying to work with the many less active members of our ward and we have not been able to find many home yet but I know that when we do we will be able to serve more people.  I am so excited to get to know more people and see who we can teach.  I was asked to give a 15 minute talk on the Book of Mormon on Sunday, and it was so amazing.  I could tell that the Spirit was guiding me in my preparation and when I gave my talk.  It felt so different than any other talk I have ever given before, I am not sure how to describe it but it was wonderful.  People afterwards told me I did a good job and whenever they did thoughts came to my mind that that was the Spirit.  I love learning so much as a missionary.  I just want to close by sayi...

Wow, that sounds like such a fun weekend with games and work.  I will do my best to get to the museum I think we might do service there sometimes.  My companion is Elder Toombs and he is from Utah.   He has a great heart and he loves talking to people and serving them. There was a Sister Simonsen that replaced us when we left the Valentine ward and I think she is from Texas but I could not find a Sister Simonsen serving from our stake.  Transfers here are done by car, all cars drive to a central point, swap stuff and then head back. We have a car in this area just for that purpose of transporting missionaries. I forgot to bring my camera otherwise I would send pictures. The hardest part this week is that I don't know what to say to my companion, he does his best on somethings, but on other rules he does not like, waking up on time, exercising, and following the rules here on music and caffeinated drinks.  His last companion made it very hard for him and ...

It is great, we don't have many investigators yet, but that will come with time.  My new companion is Elder Toombs and he is from Utah.  He has a great heart and he loves talking to people and serving them.  We do have a car but with very few miles, so we are always biking around.  I am excited to keep learning and having so much fun.  We have some great members and people that were recently baptized, its so much fun to work with them.

JR has been very busy and we have not been able to talk to him.  We were surprised that he was not there at church yesterday.  Those pictures were from King's Canyon and Sequoia national park.  Elder Belmont and I are both getting transferred so the new missionaries will keep working with JR, Sister Rodriguez and Perkins.  Elder Belmont is going to Madera and I am going up to Atwater.  I am working on sewing my socks and when I get around to it, it seems to work.  I will try and get a picture of the district today.  Thank you for getting that ordered.  Not too much happened this week, we have not been able to work with any new people and it has been hard to teach many people.

Each area causes me to stretch and grow in such different ways, one of the big ones is seeing that I want to keep my thoughts focused on the gospel and Christ constantly, so I need to build that habit now and keep it up after my mission.  It has gotten me to try and see how to put others first and what my priorities are.  I really loved conference and the reminder that I am a son of God, with great potential if I am just willing to put in the faith and effort.  I feel more confident in some things, and that's when I start seeing other areas I can improve on.  Rules are always changing, some lessons I have only taught a handful of times, and being on time is still hard but its so much fun to learn every day.  Recently I have been going over the Book of Mormon again in my studies with a focus on the Atonement and thinking about what things I can apply to the people we are working with.  This has placed me in Mosiah and I am loving King Benjamin so much! ...