Dallon is in Hollywood

Missionary Monday is fun.  we got to email back and forth a little with Dallon.  He is in Hollywood ward which covers most of Hollywood and West Hollywood.  The iconic Hollywood sign is in his ward boundaries as well as the Griffith observatory and other interesting things.  To start the day he sent some pictures from the MTC.

Dallon and his MTC Branch President

Dallon, his companion Elder Clark, Elder Davis and Elder Butler

Dallon's MTC District from left to right (elder davis, elder clark, elder burnside,elder adams, sister hart, our teacher brother hanson,sister nagano, elder snelders, elder green, elder butler, and elder hamilton

Pretty cool pictures from the MTC.  Also one from arriving in LA where they were putting together his bicycle.

us putting my bike together, elder taylor is taking the picture,the other elders are elder spencer who is standing, and elder johnson

Enough of that, onto his email:

I will try to send the photo one last time. My trainer is elder Taylor as you heard. He is from west Virginia, and has been out for 13 months, with 8 of those being in the area we are in now. We are in Hollywood! It has been really fun so far. We don't have a lot of investigators, but we have a lot of potential investigators. In fact on Sunday we were blessed because we had 2 non-members that we had never met before show up to church, and set appointments to meet with us again. The Hollywood ward has about 150 active members, and a whole 800 less active members.We have a lot of work to do. A lot of the members are in the film business and stuff like that, so they are pretty crazy, but i love them. I met Bro Forsyth's nephew in law yesterday so that was cool. We use both a car and a bike, we have a 2013 Toyota corolla, but we are limited to 750 miles a month so we have ride our bikes every couple days to save miles. I haven't gotten a packages yet, they hand them out at district meeting which is every Friday, so maybe i will get them then. We are fed pretty well, a lot of the members feed us or will take us out to a restaurant, so we don't really have to worry about food. We had 3 dinner appointments since i have been here, and got fed lunch once or twice. You can let Stevie know that we make our beds every day, and have to clean our apartment every preparation day.I paid for my bags at the airport and gave the mission home the receipt so they should refund that. I have enough money.i love it out here, we are so blessed everyday. We had one potential investigator call us and tell us that her sister just moved into town and they both wanted to come to church. There are around 270 missionaries in the Los Angeles mission,and next transfer there are 30 more coming in, I am so glad to be here, and I know i am doing the Lords work. I love you all and can't wait to hear from you next week.

Then he followed with another email

forgot one other thing. Yesterday we took an investigator to a fireside by mclein nelson, the producer of the saratov approach. He started by talking to the nonmembers by saying if your Mormon friends doesn't mention Christ a lot, then tell them they need to get there act together.He talked about how it is sad that we don't mention Christ enough for most people to realize that we are christian.He talked about how the film was just meant to increase everybody's faith, not just for Mormons. He then talked about how we need to stop hiding the fact that we are Mormon and put the word out there, on what we believe. It was a really good talk, i wish i could watch the movie, it is on Netflix if you want to watch it. Talk to you next week.

Apparently i am like the only missionary who doesn't have any pictures of their family and friends, so my companion would love to see some pictures of you guys.

It was a fun day we enjoyed our emails and we are so proud of him and his work.

Dallon's new companion

We got pictures!!  And a letter from the mission president about his safe arrival.

Apparently his first companion is Elder Taylor, although I'm sure we will hear more later.  His mission president reiterated how to get a hold of him, etc.

22 July 2014
Dear Brother and Sister Burnside,
Elder Dallon Jay Burnside arrived safely to this mission 21 July 2014. After prayerful consideration, 
Elder Michael McKean Taylor was selected to be his companion. We make every effort to assign 
only the very best missionaries to be trainers, as these first few months are critical in the life of a new 
missionary. Enclosed are pictures of Elder Burnside with his companion, Sister Weidman, and me.
During the course of Elder Burnside’s mission, he will be transferred from area to area within the 
mission; therefore, we ask that all his mail be sent to:
Elder Dallon Jay Burnside
1591 East Temple Way 
California Los Angeles Mission
Los Angeles, CA 90024-5801
We are excited and grateful to have Elder Burnside serve in the California Los Angeles Mission. Our 
desire is to help him succeed and magnify his calling. We will do everything possible to see that he 
remains healthy, actively engaged, challenged, and happy in his missionary labors. Please be assured 
that his welfare and happiness are of primary concern to us. For ongoing and up-to-date information on 
this mission, we invite you to visit our mission blog: 
http://www.californialosangelesmission.blogspot.com
The enclosed information answers many of the questions frequently asked. Should you have any 
questions or concerns during the course of Elder Burnside’s mission, please do not hesitate to contact 
me.
Sincerely yours,
David N. Weidman, President
California Los Angeles Mission

Adios

Dallon Flies to Los Angeles

Today was the big day.  Dallon left the MTC for Los Angeles.  He had a 7:50 am flight out of Salt Lake City for Los Angeles.  He got to call mom and dad before he left so about 6:45 am we get a FUN phone call.  It was so good to hear from him.

He really enjoyed his experience at the MTC.  According to Dallon, the highlight was probably all of the testimony meetings and devotionals.  A couple of guys testified of their conversion during one devotional that resonated with Dallon.  Apparently they had been living an extreme lifestyle with gangs, alcohol, etc. and the change in their lives due to the gospel of Jesus Christ was pretty powerful.  I believe Dallon would like to help others feel that kind of change in their lives.  Dallon enjoyed their teaching experiences.  They had one "investigator" (I'm not sure Dallon realized it was staged at first) that was very angry and I think that was hard for him to teach.  However, they conquered the challenge.

Dallon's aunt Cheri had told him that he should sing with the MTC choir as it is one of the MTC's "best kept secrets".  Since his companion Elder Clark was a good singer, they decided to go to choir.  Unfortunately there were far too many people there for the choir so he didn't get to participate.  He wanted to let Aunt Cheri know that it "isn't much of a secret anymore"!!!

He unexpectedly got to go to the Provo temple on Friday or Saturday.  He wasn't supposed to be able to as the temple was closed for maintenance and cleaning, but they got done early.  He really enjoys the temple and took some pictures around the temple of him and his district.  Hopefully he will send them at some point.

A little insight to embarrass Dallon, at one point he admitted he forgot to bring soap and was just using shampoo!  We apparently have to send soap in our next care package:)

Also, of note,  our neighbors the Dahls have a cousin (Jon Dahl's cousin) that is going to Boston and he was in Dallon's zone.  It is a small world.

There were 20 new missionaries who headed to Los Angeles.  12 sisters and 8 brothers.  Most were spanish speaking, a couple of korean speakers, then Dallon and one sister speaking english.  The missionaries flew to the mission home and then the mission home sent an email

Dear Parents,
We want to let you know that your missionary son or daughter arrived safely to the California Los Angeles Mission today. There were 20 new missionaries welcomed into our mission today, and they all looked happy, healthy and ready to begin! An additional e-mail will be sent to you in a few days with more detailed information and pictures of your missionary with his/her new companion and with the mission president and his wife, so be watching for it!
Warmest regards,

Sister Biddulph

Hopefully we will hear soon who his companion is, where he is and get some pictures. I love this missionary and I am proud of his effort as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I pray we may all be disciples of Christ.

Adios

Dallon's Second Email

It is Friday again!  We got talk communicate with the boy again.  We had been watching to see if we could catch him while he was emailing and interesting enough, his companion Elder Jared Clark from Iowa City, IA emailed us first.

Hey!
This is Elder Clark, your sons best companion ever!!
just wanted to say hi, i am keeping your son happy i hope. you have a great son he will go far in the mission field. he is a very strong teacher!
Enjoy life's daily journey

Elder Clark

It was amusing emailing back and forth. Janet and I both sent emails to Dallon, mostly telling him how proud we are of him. Anyway he sent this...

Hey i am glad you guys had a good time in utah. I do need envelopes and stamps if i am going to send letters to people. The first full week has been really good. On sunday I got front row seats at the marriott center to listen to a former mission president talk about missionary work. It was really good. Did you listen to it on byu radio? THen on tuesday we listened to a talk from a former seventy about using christ's name in vain, and being more christ-like. It hit me when he talked about how sometimes wqe just close things in the name of christ, but we really need to think about how we are using it when we close in his name. We have been teaching an investigator named Christian. We love him and he is a good guy. He has reaad the book of mormon and all that stuff, but he is mad at god for all the bad things that happen in the world. So it has been tough to teach him, but last night when we asked him to say the closing prayer, he thought about it for a while before finally saying maybe next time.I was so excited. I love teaching him, and I can't wait to go teach in Los Angeles, escpecially because I am tired of sitting in class all day. I fly out at 6;30 on monday and i might have a chance to call you before the flight so be ready. We love all the baked goods i am getting so keep it up. I love it here, and i love all the people in my distyrict, i will miss them, but I can't wait to go to L.A. Love you al;l.

P.S. How are the Dodgers doing?

Not suprising we had to update him on the Dodgers. We will mail him packages and would encourage anyone else to email/send letters/packages as well. Adios.

We sent a package yesterday full of chocolate chip cookies and letters from all the kids and the parents.  It has been hard to see him go (Janet has shed more than a few tears) but letters make all the difference in the world.  This work is a real testimony builder to me.  I am proud of my son.  We got Dallon's first email today which I will share:

"Dear, Family I am having an amazing time at the mtc I love it here. My companion elder clark is funny but still very spiritual, i really enjoy being around him. He is from Iowa City and is going to Fort Collins, colorado as is almost everybody in my district. I know one sister who is going to LA but I haven't met anybody else, which is ok. The spirit is so strong here it is amazing. The staff is great, and they have to be as there were 600 other new missionaries that came in with me! My teachers are awesome they keep our 3 hour classes entertaining and full of the spirit. We are learning by fire or whatever the saying is, as me and elder clark teach an investigator tomorrow, who we met and he has some tough questions. But i know that the spirit will guide us to say the right thing. The food here is absolutely amazing, super delicious. I just love everything here, the only bad thing is we are not allowed to play frisbee on the field, which is worse cause they are redoing the gym so no basketball either. I dont have any pictures yet because i can't seem to figure out the camera, but i will soon so don't worry. I love you all and really appreciate the cookies and letters, they were great. I only get to write emails every friday for 60 minutes so i will finish up soon.I know I am doing the right thing, and i am enjoying the Lords work, I am so excited to go to LA. I miss you all and will see you in 728 days(I will calculate the hours later). P.S. you can tell Bryce that i did enjoy the pink."

Dallon enter's the MTC

July 9, 2014 -

After a great deal of preparation we dropped Dallon off at the MTC today.  Dallon will spend 12 days in the missionary training center (MTC) in Provo, Utah before heading to the California Los Angeles mission where he will spend the next 24 months.  We are sad to see him go, but are so excited that he is doing this most important work for the Lord in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Dallon and his 2 younger brothers and several cousins went and got ice cream at the BYU creamery before taking a few pictures and dropping him off.  It is a quick process where he is let out of the car, gives his mom and dad a quick hug and then heads off with luggage in tow.  We look forward to posting more here as we hear from Dallon and his experiences.

Dallon Burnside Mission Blog

I've set up this blog to record some of the thoughts and experiences that I have as his father, as well as posting the experiences of Dallon himself that he sends to us via email.  Dallon will be serving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as a missionary to the California, Los Angeles mission where he will teach, preach and serve the people for a period of 2 years.