Dallin and his first companion

We got this picture from Dallin's grandfather who knows the old mission president who knows the current secretary. Thus proving once again...Its not what you know, its who you know that counts.

Dallin's New Address

Send all letters and packages to:

Elder Dallin M. Ollerton

California Anaheim Mission

2500 N. Bristol St.

Santa Ana, CA 92706

I made it to California!

Hey all!!

I am here to send ya a quick message to let you know that I have arrived safely to the beautiful state of California! It was so good to hear from my family. I loved hearing your voices, your jokes, your fun activities coming up. Sounds like the Ollerton family is staying really busy! Which is really good to hear!

So I flew in a small Delta airplane just like the one we flew in when we last came in right before I left on my mission. It was really full and compact. It was so weird, I felt famous because a ton of people would come up to us and say "Good luck Elders!" I felt so loved. I also felt love of the people who told us that. After I arrived, President Bowen and some other missionaries met us at the baggage claim and picked us all up. I could feel the love of them as they all embraced me with a warm welcome. After they all took us to the mission home in Santa Ana and we watched a movie on saftey in the mission and we had lunch after. I then had a interview with President Bowen. President Bowen is such a great man. I have come to know him a little right now. I just had an interview with him and it went really well. I am going to enjoy having him as my mission president. Sister Bowen is awesome too. They can't stop talking about how the great the mission is here. I'm so excited to get to work!

President Bowen told me about my trainer. His name is Elder Larson, He is from Idaho Falls, and he's been in the field for about five months now. He's young to the field, but President said that he has been on fire and the area i'm going to is on fire. President said that he is such a great missionary and that I'm going to love serving with him. I bet he's right. I get to meet him in a few minutes and i'm really excited. I'm not sure what else is scheduled for today, but i'm way excited to get to work. My area is going to be in Fullerton.

Well I probably ought to go. I was told to take a quick nap so I'm going to do so. Tahnk you for all of the support you have given me! I can't wait to report the work to ya soon! Look out for my Email. oh btw the address to send letters is the address in the packet Mom. thanks again! Te Amo con mi todo Corazon!!

Elder Dallin Ollerton

Leaving Tomorrow

Hey Mom and Dad!

I was told we were able to get on and email you guys one last time before we head out! so here I am! I just got your dearelder about three hours ago. They don''t normally print them off on saturday or sunday. So i got it to make sure about the calling time for tomorrow. I will call our home phone as soon as i get passed security. I am supposed to meet at the travel office to leave at five am and my flight leaves SLC at 845. So Dad i will warn you that I might miss you at home. If that is the case I will save some time to talk to you also after I call home. If I can''t reach you at all then I'm sorry. I will be calling in a month anway. Ha I'm sure you will understand. So yeah! expect a call anywhere from six-six thirtyish to whenever my flight leaves! I'm so excited to hear your voices again!

Sounds like you all had a good time with the family down in st george. that is always great!! I miss being with all of you. But that's how life is! i'm here doing the thing I need to be doing in my life right now! I wouldn't have it any other way! it is such a blessing to be a servant of the Lord (well full time servant).

So since pday this is what has happened. Well nothing really special has happened until yesterday. I got so sick after lunch yesterday. like at the departure devotional yesterday I almost puked. I got so achy. I also had the chills and a fever. I didn't sleep very well last night becuase these signs and symptoms continued throughout the night. I went to the doctor today and they gave me a flu test. It turned out negative, but they gave me ib's and advice to treat the problems i was having. I feel a little better now, but i still feel ill. I will be good though! But on the brightside for yesterday we had a great devotional. Elder David Archuleta (who i see a lot, lives in my building) gave a powerful musical number (the spirit of God). He mixed it with Spanish because that is what he is learning. It was a really neat piece. Also, I was able to listen to another Aposltle of the Lord. M. Russell Ballard. I was about twenty feet away from him as he walked through the doors to speak to us. It is so neat and an incredible feeling when you see an apostle. It's the spirit that testifys to me everytime that they are true apostles of the Lord. It's so great that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He gave us Prophets and apostles to help lead us to salvation. What a blessing!

I can't believe it's time for me to leave the MTC and get out to beautiful California! The time here has passed by so quickly! I have learned and grown so much here! It has been such a blessing. My life has been completly changed and i haven't even gotten out to the field yet. I love this gospel and I can not wait to share it to the people of California. This is such an exciting time of life for me. I know that their is someone out there in Anaheim waithing for me to teach them about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The general authorities tell us taht the Lord is preparing our investigators this very moment for us. So that when it comes time for me to teach them, they will be ready to accept the gospel and enter the waters of baptism. Which is only the beginning of the many great blessings we ahve been given on this earth!

Dad, Thanks for your advice. I will cherish it and use it as i get there. I'm glad you can see growth. Because sometimes it's hard to see your own growth ya know?

I love you all and I can't wait to hear from you soon!! if you want to respond to this you can. I might check it later tonight.

I love you!! Te Amo con mi todo corazon!

Dallin

Off to California

Hey Mom and Dad!

I was told we were able to get on and email you guys one last time before we head out! so here I am! I just got your dearelder about three hours ago. They don''t normally print them off on saturday or sunday. So i got it to make sure about the calling time for tomorrow. I will call our home phone as soon as i get passed security. I am supposed to meet at the travel office to leave at five am and my flight leaves SLC at 845. So Dad i will warn you that I might miss you at home. If that is the case I will save some time to talk to you also after I call home. If I can''t reach you at all then I'm sorry. I will be calling in a month anway. Ha I'm sure you will understand. So yeah! expect a call anywhere from six-six thirtyish to whenever my flight leaves! I'm so excited to hear your voices again!

Sounds like you all had a good time with the family down in st george. that is always great!! I miss being with all of you. But that's how life is! i'm here doing the thing I need to be doing in my life right now! I wouldn't have it any other way! it is such a blessing to be a servant of the Lord (well full time servant).

So since pday this is what has happened. Well nothing really special has happened until yesterday. I got so sick after lunch yesterday. like at the departure devotional yesterday I almost puked. I got so achy. I also had the chills and a fever. I didn't sleep very well last night becuase these signs and symptoms continued throughout the night. I went to the doctor today and they gave me a flu test. It turned out negative, but they gave me ib's and advice to treat the problems i was having. I feel a little better now, but i still feel ill. I will be good though! But on the brightside for yesterday we had a great devotional. Elder David Archuleta (who i see a lot, lives in my building) gave a powerful musical number (the spirit of God). He mixed it with Spanish because that is what he is learning. It was a really neat piece. Also, I was able to listen to another Aposltle of the Lord. M. Russell Ballard. I was about twenty feet away from him as he walked through the doors to speak to us. It is so neat and an incredible feeling when you see an apostle. It's the spirit that testifys to me everytime that they are true apostles of the Lord. It's so great that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He gave us Prophets and apostles to help lead us to salvation. What a blessing!

I can't believe it's time for me to leave the MTC and get out to beautiful California! The time here has passed by so quickly! I have learned and grown so much here! It has been such a blessing. My life has been completly changed and i haven't even gotten out to the field yet. I love this gospel and I can not wait to share it to the people of California. This is such an exciting time of life for me. I know that their is someone out there in Anaheim waithing for me to teach them about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The general authorities tell us taht the Lord is preparing our investigators this very moment for us. So that when it comes time for me to teach them, they will be ready to accept the gospel and enter the waters of baptism. Which is only the beginning of the many great blessings we ahve been given on this earth!

Dad, Thanks for your advice. I will cherish it and use it as i get there. I'm glad you can see growth. Because sometimes it's hard to see your own growth ya know?

I love you all and I can't wait to hear from you soon!! if you want to respond to this you can. I might check it later tonight.

I love you!! Te Amo con mi todo corazon!

Dallin

Almost Outta Here

Hey Everyone!!

Wow! It's been another great week! It has been one of the busiest weeks of my mission thus far. I hope that I will be able to tell you about most of it. I'm a slow typer, but I will continue to type as fast I can with the time I have to write home.

Okay, So this last Wednesday (not yesterday) We received a new district in our zone. They are all Elders, Most come from Utah. One of them is from Canada, and the other is from Barbados. Barbados is a country in the Caribean. Pretty neat huh? His name is Elder Nelson, and he is one of the smallest Elders I have met thus far. I thought my companion was small. Elder Nelson has such a great testimony and we are honored to have him in our zone. Speaking of Elder Nelson, On Thursday morning at about three o' clock in the morning I heard a knock on my door. I was wondering..Que en el Mundo!! (what in the world) I thought I was just hearing things so I went back to bed. Again, I heard a knock on the door. So I decided to get up and open the door. Sure enough, it was little tiny Elder Nelson who was standing outside my door. He said "Elder Ollerton, could you take me to the nurse please?" I then told him to my knowledge that there was no nurse here at time. He explained that he was having stomach pain and a headache. I told him to come in and we would take care of him. I was about to him hime some Ibuprofen when he then told me that he was allergic to asprin. So I decided not to risk it. I woke Elder Farnsworth up, and I asked him what he thought we should do. He suggested we give him a blessing. So we proceeded to do so. I got my oil that Grandma Hutchings gave me and consecrated it. We gave a blessing to Elder Nelson. and I gave him some pepol bismol. I told him to say a prayer and then try to get some sleep. We sent him back to bed, and then I went back to bed. I could feel such power and inspiration as we were giving the blessing. The Priesthood power is such a blessing to us that we should never take for granted. Oh and Grandma Hutchings, your oil from Jeruselam has not gone unused! What a blessing it is to have that. Thank you so much again for giving that to me.

The rest of that day was long. Elder Farnsworth woke up so sick. We also heard that there was a flu thing going around the MTC, and a lot of people were getting so sick around here. So we went up to the Health Clinic to get him checked out. After about an hour and a half of waiting. He comes back out to tell me it's just a cold and that he needed to get a nap because he was sleep deprived. So we went back to our room and he took a nap while I studied. I actually got about three hours of personal study that day. It was really nice for me because being a Zone Leader we don't get much personal time anymore. So it was really nice to be able to study and catch up on the things I have been wanting to study.

So on Saturday we had a baptismal service for one of our investigators. Claudio is now a baptized member of the church. Elder Farnsworth and I had to put together the program for the service. We did it in the middle of class, and everyone was able to particpate. It was interesting to see how to set it all up and what it will be like to do it in the future. I'm so excited to be able to do so! So we had our first baptism! and Hopefull we'll have one more by the time we leave!

Easter Sunday was absolutely amazing! We had a combined sacrament meeting with the whole mtc. Guess who came to speak to us? That's right, President Boyd K. Packer. He spoke on the importance of the Atonement with missionary work. Which seemed to be appropriate considering the occasion it was. It was so cool, I got to partake of the Sacrament with an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was so cool and I could feel the spirit so strongly! what a great experience it was. After we had a testimony meeting with our Branch. I was able to bear my testimony completely in Spanish. It was so cool! Without the Lord I would not be where I am today with the gospel and the language.

So last night we had a fun opportunity to do something with the new missionaries. So on the first day in the mtc the new missionaries go to an activity called "teaching experience" Where TRC volunteers to a lesson with a group of about forty new missionaries. We were asked to get the lesson started with "How to begin teaching" fundamental we ahve learned during our time here. I guess our teachers put in a recommendation for us and thought we would be pretty good at demonstrating How to begin teaching. So last night we did so. We would do a door approach and get to know the investigator and their need and wants. It was a way cool experience and I learned a ton from it. It was something I'd been wanting to work on a ton too. Funny how the Lord works that out for us huh?

Well, That's basiclly my week! It's been a great experience here at the MTC. I can't believe I ahve been out on my mission for two months already. 2 down, only 22 to go! time is going by so quickly! So i will be going to the travel office and leaving for California on tuesday the 17th at five a.m. My flight will be leaving sometime around 8:00-8:30. And i will be getting there around 9:30 utah time. Crazy! PARENTS THIS IS CRUCIAL YOU READ THIS PART!!! So I learned that I can call my family while I'm at the airport waiting for my flight. that's right. I can call you on the phone. So dad if you wanna talk you might want to try and cancel work in the morning. if you cant i understand. but i'm going to buy a phonecard to call you guys. So expect a call about that time! will you tell me what phone number i should call? I would love to hear your voices! it was answer to my prayer to hear that i could do that.

Dearelder me as soon as you can k? Thank you for the packages! I will be sending more stuff home this week and I get my picture memory card to you asap!!

WEll my time is up! next time i email I will be in california! if you need anything Dearelder me asap k?

Thank you for everything! La Iglesia de JesuCristo is verdadero!! Te amo mucho!!!

Time its a flyin'

Hey everybody!!

Wow another week has gone by! It's hard to belive that I have almost been gone on my mission for almost two months! I gotta say this week has been probably my favoite week thus far! It has been so spiritual as well as fulfilling. It's had its challenges too!

So to start off. Dad, I did get your really long dearelder on saturday. Can I say how happy I was to see you guys!! After conference we went on a temple walk with my zone and we were just on our way back. I was messing around with some of the people in our zone. Having a lot of fun like I normally do. I get to the sidewalk to cross the road, and what do i always naturally do? I look at the cars. I saw this green scrush come up to the light and i instantly thought...NO WAY!! I look inside the veichle to make sure i wasnt going crazy and sure enough I see Dad's face in the driver's seat. I look to my left and I see mom's face explode in the car. Dad rolled down the window and everyone started whislting and I heard you all yell "we love the missionaries! Especiall Elder Ollerton!!" I don't know if you noticed but I was waving back! I was in complete and total shock! I hope you heard me yell back to you guys "I love you!!" Because I did. It was soooo good to see all of your faces. What are the odds?? I'm sorry i didn't stop. My companion was way ahead of me and i was trying to catch up. and i knew you weren't in the lane. So i just kept going! and you did too! but it made me so dang happy! You have no idea!! I hope you guys are still doing good and will never forget that moment. Because I won't! So Dad, we were walking home from doing a session in the temple this morning. I was walking down the sidewalk path by the field and I saw in the distance a Black Audi that looks just ike yours. Were ya driving home from work and past the MTC around 9:15? if so you just missed me!! But it's all good right? I hope you all know that that was not by coincedince.(however you spell that) My prayers were answered that day. I knew you guys were okay! but I had to know for sure eh? What a great experience.

So this General Conference was amazing!!! Duncan was so right when he said that conferdence is like the Super Bowl for missionaries! I went into conference with so many questions. Something that I had never really done before. I went in with the faith and confidience that our Heavenly Father would answer those questions. Guess what? He answered all of them!! How amazing is it that the talks seem to talk directly to our wants/needs in our lives. Isn't it such a blessing that we have the guidance we need to help us be successful and grow stronger everyday? I testify to you that is a true gift from our Heavenly Father. He wants us to do our best and be happy because we are His childeren and he loves us so very much. How grateful we should be for the blessings He gives us no? This week in the Book of Mormon I was reading int he early chapters of Mosiah. Where King Benjamin was speaking to his people for the last time. He talks about how our Eternal Father gave us everything. Our bodies, our spirits, the agency we have. He goes on to say that we need to be grateful. He makes a very good and bold point. He says that with all that he gives us, and He only asks us to do so much in our lives. Why boast? Why can't we show our gratitude by keeping the commandments He has given us? I can testify that if you show more graditude by keeping the commandments, and telling Him through prayer, you will see your life change day by day. what a blessing!

So we had this amazing fireside on Sunday. Via Sekahema, who played on the Byu national championship team came and spoke to us about missionary work. He did something I found very interesting and way cool at the same time. He told us about an investigator he had baptized on his mission in South Dakota. The convert was there, and so was his former companion that he worked with when they baptized this man. They were holding each other so tightly as the reunited for the first time in over thirty years. They told the storty of his baptism. He then focuses on how this man got married and had to little girls. Those little girls got baptized also. Pretty soon after those little girls were sealed with their family in the temple. After that those little girls got married and sealed to their spouses in the temple. Right after he had described all of that. With tears rushing down his face. The spirit filled me so strongly. The spirit Testified to me that night that this is what the work is all about. It is about bringing families together for time and throughout all of eternity. So that way they may all have the chance to live with their Eternal Parents and there earthly parents as well. I know it is something that a lot of families would love to have. They don't know of this great plan our Heavenly Father has for us. This is where I come in. I am here to tell them that they can be with their Eternal and Earthly families for all of eternity. I want them to have that. So that way they may be able to experience the same joy I have experienced all though my life. That is what this great work is all about.

Tuesday night Elder Wickman of the seventy came and spoke to us in a fireside. After the fireside Elder Sanft (who actually jsut had a gall bladder removed taht day) got up in our district meeting and said. We have all sacrificed to be here. We are here now. So we can not waste our time here. The spirit testified this to me as i was listening. I learned taht if you do not use this time wisely, and are not "anxiously engaged in a good cause" You could essentially alter the course of your future investigators progression. That would eventually leading the people to not accepting the gospel. Which could totally alter their life here, and after. It is SO CRUCIAL that we do not waste our time as missionaries. This goes for preparing missionaries too! Please Please start now. Read the Book of Mormon Everyday, Pray often, Have faith, repent, and listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Start now! So that way you will be able to lead you investigators to the waters of baptism, and to the temple. So that they may be sealed to their families for eternity.

Sorry i went off on that. I guess maybe someone who will read this be needing it. Beacause that was a prompting I had to type to you today.

Thanks for all of your letters and packages! I will be getting everyone I can a letter! Let me know how your week goes! I only have two more weeks left here and I have a lot of work to do! I better start now eh??

hahah thank you for your support!!

La iglesia es verdadera!!

Te amo mucho!! Ciao!

Elder Dallin M. Ollerton