Elder Dayton Talbot: Alaska Anchorage Mission 2017-2019

I've been hearing about how there are more storms/fires/earthquakes going on. What a crazy season we are having. It sounds to me like there are thousands of people down in Houston that are thankful for every one that came down to help. Service is the one thing Christ did his whole life, when we serve none of it is about us.  The work down here in Kodiak is slow. Slower than I ever could have imagined. Not a single person investigating. I always imagined before I came out that we would always have someone to teach. But in this case it's more the opposite. One thing this is teaching me is to always have faith. My faith is being tested and I know that we will find someone as long as we have the faith to find. Not only having faith but being obedient and following the mission rules. Thanks for the encouragement and the support that you all give me weekly. It helps a ton. Almost every day I wake up and the first thought that comes to my head is ...

  It's so great to hear from you. Sounds like the family is getting back to school, it's super strange not going back to school this year for the first time. But I'm having a really great time out here in Kodiak. As a missionary I haven't heard that much about any news, besides hurricane Harvey. Was there a lot of people who died? Or was there just a lot of people who lost their homes due to flooding? I'm super glad Austin didn't get effected but I sure will keep Russ and Jens family in my prayers. I would like to see pictures if they took any. There is a lot of people that talk about the hurricane up here and know I'm from Texas. So I think it would be helpful to show them pictures of the flooding in Houston. I'm pretty curious how bad it was. It's been raining here for about a week strait.  The sun might be shining for an hour a day at max. It's just constant rain and cloudy all day. I've counted about 3 nice days while I have been here....

Thank you for updating me on how the family's doing. It's great to see that every one got a chance to go up and see the solar eclipse.  I'm just waiting up here in Alaska for the day where I can see the stars before I go to bed. But by the time it's 10:30 it's still a little light outside. It's crazy but I, used to it! Plus it's about to change, it's going to be super dark soon so I'm enjoying every moment of light and sunshine .  My week was really good. On Monday I went fishing and caught a bunch of pink salmon. I kept three, my comp showed me how to cut up the fish... I tried and I did pretty poorly, but I'm gonna be practicing about every week. I should have learned by dad or grandpa Talbot back when I was home. But we had a good time , we fished all day, it would be fun to come back out here later with dad and grandpa and any one else that wants to fish, but that's really far down the road haha. Throughout the week we went back ...

Elder  Talbot  8.21.17 I’m glad to hear from you every week. I hope work isn’t too stressful and taking up to much of your time. I miss the whole family but I sure am enjoying life out here. My trainer is tons of fun and we are going fishing today. last time he went and caught 20 pinks. We are going to have lots of fun today. It rains a lot out here in Kodiak. It rains like every other day, now I know why everything is so green and growing out here. It’s also why Texas only gets rain once a month haha.  On Monday we Flew out to anchorage and we were hosted by another companionship. we spent our Pday hiking Flat Tops, it was fun to hike, I haven’t been in a while. Then we went to the church and were playing sports, volleyball, basketball and spike ball. The elders that hosted us for the night were in charge of the YSA ward. So, we got to go with them for an activity that they had that night. it was fun, we got to play soccer. On Tu...

My week has been really great! I'm glad to hear that everything is going well at home. I sure do miss cousin swaps haha. It's fun to see the pictures you sent of Devin and Danica, I sure do miss those kidos a lot! Every time a see a little boy like Devin I want to play with him , Devin is an awesome brother. I miss him to death . Fishing with Devin was lots of fun at the beach. I'm glad he got to go fishing and have a good time in the water. I miss and love you guys. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty beautiful up here. I'll attach all the pictures so far for my first week . The weather like every day has been 50s, and one day it was really nice and was about 60, but it's pretty constant.  It rains for a couple days, and then the sun shines for a couple. Yeah I'm still having to get used it still being light at 10:30 PM. But it's not effecting my ability to sleep, we have got good curtains to help block it out. And it's not as bad a...

It sounds like you had a great time taking Devin and mom out. Devin still looks like he has not grown too much, hopefully he’s a big boy by the time I get back.  He’s super cute though. It’s really strange being away from home, but the last 2 and a half weeks have blown by so fast.  Before I answer any of the questions you sent i just wanted to go over my week a little bit. By the way I’ll be sending some pics in another email home today. all the pics are on my Tablet so I will send them later. It’s so wonderful being in an environment where all of the elders and sisters share the same standards and beliefs as I do. My week was really good though. Me and elder Paskett were teaching our fake investigators this week. We taught 3, Debbi, Austin, and Linda. It was obvious that they were members, but we still got to practice teaching them the first 4 lessons of preach my Gospel. Practices helps a lot because it builds your confidence. Another thing that i have learned that hel...

We asked Dayton a few questions to get a little more information about his first couple days.  I was teasing him about his “napping” since that was a favorite thing to do at home the last couple of months.  The failed room inspection photo is not a surprise (see attachment).  He would have had a pile of those at home.  He did mention in a separate email that his companion was the only “commendable” for making his bed.  Boys will be boys.  J Dave Hey it’s so good to hear from yall! My companion is from Utah, he is also serving in Alaska with me and yes there are 5 elders and 2 sisters in are district who are also going to Alaska. The MTC food is pretty good and is always different so far so thats been pretty nice. i exsersieed for the first time last night playing soccer which was so much fun but i told myself i need to stop eating donuts and ice cream because i was worn out by the end of the hour. i saw Preston yesterday finally, i...