2 Months already!

Hello everyone!

Sorry I don't email every Monday I'm too busy going ham in volleyball chair soccer and tippin basketball with the zone.

This week was good! Me and my new comp have a fun time while working hard which makes mission life much better Haha. He has been out 21 months so he is going home soon though.

Last Pday we went and played laser tag which was super fun! Shout out to my Uncle David and John for always taking us to laser tag growing up so that I could be a shooter in the arena last Monday.

This week we had a lot of lessons with members in the area which was great to get to know lots of the people here! I'm actually eating lots of new food here that I normally would probably not ever eat at home at these member dinners despite my pickiness.

We went around and drove like an hour north toward the Canadian border and knocked on some people's doors trying to get in touch with people from our ward/congregational group. It was cool driving up there because it was just farm country and dirt roads. But there is nothing but flatness out here it is crazy.

We went on exchanges too this week which was super super fun. We also went to Buffalo Wild Wings to celebrate some of the Elders 6 months mark.

In 1 Nephi 17: 12-13 it says 12 For the Lord had not hitherto suffered that we should make much fire, as we journeyed in the wilderness; for he said: I will make thy food become sweet, that ye cook it not;
13 And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led

As long as we do everything we can to keep the commandments, God will deliver us out of any trials we are currently in. I know that as we apply this to our lives we will be led through everything and we will be led by God!

Email me! @ matthew.dalton@missionary.org


Pics:
- me and a couple of the elders from my zone on exchanges
-buffalo wild wings
-North Dakota flatness and cool clouds
-my bishops massive barn/shop on his land

Quarantine...and The Dad Pic!

Hey guys!! How's it going

This week was pretty good. Even though we were in quarantine, most of our zone was too so we played basketball for exercise every morning so it was bad at all.

My companion Elder Key got a call from the mission president saying he was flying out to his original assignment in Lithuania and that I would be getting a new companion sometime this week so yesterday we road tripped down to Bismarck to drop him off. Then we got to hang out and eat dinner with the Mission President and his wife which was super cool.

We had a less active member back at church on Sunday and Sunday was our first day out of quarantine so that was extra cool! I have only been to church 2 out of the 4 weeks that I have been here so I have become less active at church since I actually got on my mission than I was before haha

I get my new companion on Wednesday so that will be nice! Right now I'm just hanging our with our Zone Leaders which is fun too

Since I have been here for 4 weeks I get to lead out in this area which will be super cool even though I'm still brand new and in training I still get to lead out since I have been in the area longer and I'm excited about that!

Mosiah 4:9

9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend

God is there and he really did create all things including us. Even though we don't and can't comprehend all the things that God has done and is capable of doing, know that he truly does have a plan for each and every one of us. He knows us each individually better than we know ourselves!

Email me!!

matthew.dalton@missionary.org

Pictures:
-Dalton traditional bike pic first one is my dad then my brother Adam then me

We tested negative for COVID but this week we tested positive

Hey everyone!!

So last week I emailed saying we tested negative for COVID but this week we tested positive so now I am 2/3 on my positive COVID tests 

Actually though my comp tested positive and I had it back in September and the antibodies last 3-8 months and so i actually tested inconclusive and I gotta little sick with some of the symptoms that I had last time but it never got bad and I was over it in like two days so my theory is that some of the antibodies stuck around so it fought it off super fast and i didn't have enough covid in me for my test to come back full positive but they said to treat it like a positive test and my companion tested positive so I'm quarantined regardless haha.

One transfer is 6 weeks and by the end I will have been stuck inside 3 out of those 6 weeks hahaha. Nothing I can do about it so might as well make the best of it. Actually most of our zone has the virus right now so lots of us still meet up and do stuff like watch the devotionals together since we all have it which is really nice.

I haven't been to church in two weeks which means I showed up to my mission and became more inactive than I was at home which is usually the opposite.

We have mountain bikes and honestly my wheelies are getting pretty solid which is super fun!

We went and did service this week pre quarantine at a place called the Lords cupboard where people show up and we give out a bunch of food depending on the size of their family and stuff. Some people request water too and this one guy saw that the water had fluoride in it and started cussing it out saying its bull crap that they give this stuff the babies and that the fluoride is proven to rot teeth. I dont know much about that but regardless he let us KNOW.

North Dakota is so flat that there is nothing to block the sunsets so we get some pretty dang good ones out here and they last forever because there is legit nothing to block the view of the sun. It's like an ocean sunset haha.

If you guys are ever going through a hard time, feeling down, or are struggling, PRAY! It seems so simple but it works!! I promise you that and even when you aren't struggling still pray. Heavenly Father wants to hear from you!

Love you guys! Email me please!

We Out Here!

Hey guys!!!

We are out here in North Dakota!!
I was assigned to Minot which is the furthest area north and my area touches the Canadian border which is cool but it's still like an hour or two away so we don't really go up there.

Last week was my first week up here and I showed up and our car was broken so we pretty much stayed inside which was pretty boring but it was okay because I got to practice my wheelies on the bike they have here.

Minot has like a population of like 40,000 people but most of my area is wide open land so that's pretty cool. The coldest it was when I got here was -10/-19.

We got our car fixed on pday then went and played volleyball and basketball and chair soccer which was super fun

This week was going well we had a lot of stuff set up. We started off with zone conference which was a really good time, my mission president is legit! But then our zone leaders and three other elder tested positive for covid and we had been around them so we got quarantined again from Thursday until this morning when we tested negative so I haven't been outside of the house too much hahaha

We got our car back and then we got backed into by a big ol snow plow so we are gonna lose the car again for a few days hahaha RIP but what can you do about it

We went to the outside of the air and space museum and looked at the jets they have posted up outside there so that was super cool.

When we went to the air force base to pick up dinner from a family in the parking lot and while we were waiting we went and took a picture in front of the missle they have out front. Like 5 minutes later the Military Police came hoofing it down the road with their lights on and I was like oh snap police are coming in hotttt just as a joke but next thing you know they are parking behind us. He got out and pressed us asking why we were taking pictures of the military base and kind of lecturing us about taking pictures of a nuclear base. He checked our ID's and our car registration and made sure it was insured for whatever reason but then he realized we didn't really take a picture of the base just the massive prop missile in front of the base and didn't do anything so I attached the extremely confidential picture with the email.

Also shout out to Jenna Robinson and Hunter Merrill for getting their mission calls!!! congrats guys!!

Pictures!!

Pictures!

-airforce base pic
-me and the mission president and his wife
-me in front of the air and space museum jets
-massive icicles
-mission president let me watch Jenna's mission call opening and got to see lots of my friends from BYU!! (and Tate of course)
-we shoveled some people's driveways in the snow for service
-snow plow lowkey messed us up
-me in front of the Bismarck Temple!!