Week Three! I love getting letters!

Letter from Colton! He sounds like he is doing so well! I am so proud of him and all that he is doing and I am very excited for him to head out to the next part of his mission.


Hola!

First off i would like to say, WOW i cannot believe that in like 14 hours i will be off to the Dominican Republic!!! The next email or news you get from me will be from there! Which brings me to an important aspect of this email... My new mailing address! As i understand it there are actually two addresses..

To send letters send them to...

Elder Colton Gogarty Baines
Dominican Republic MTC
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

Apparently letters have to be sent to Salt Lake and then forwarded onto me down in the DR. I know its goig to take FOREVER to get letters but that shouldnt discourage any of you for writing me.

The other address is for packages or anything other than just plain letters...

Elder Colton Gogarty Baines
Dominican Republic MTC
Av, Bolivar #825
Los Robles
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Dont worry about sending packages though, i have already said in a few previous letters that as much as i do enjoy the packages, it takes a really long time to eat everything and i have to share a ton because i cant eat it all. All i do is sit around and study and eat all day, food is not really an issue. If that changes i wil let you all know, so really just send me lots of letters.

Mom i am sending a package home with some things that i dont want to carry on to the next stage. It has all of my letters that i have received thus far in it. Its not that i dont love all the letters that you have all sent me, but i have gotten quite a few and they are taking up a lot of space. It will be a pain to carry them everywhere so if you would please just file them or whatever that would be great. I will probably do this a couple times depending on how much love everyone feels they need to send me. Thanks for the cookies and fifth avenue bars they were awesome!! I still have a whole box of cookies though... Like i said, food is not an issue in the MTC.

Which reminds me that the Gogarty family sent me some as well!! Thanks Kelly, Mike, Kaitlyn, Kiara, Meagan and Deven for the treats and the letters!! I really enjoyed reading about what is transpiring in the current chapter of all of your lives! Deven i took your advice about companionships to heart. It really helped haha

Victoria and Jordan i am glad you feel so loved that you hear from me so often. You can post anything i write to you on the blog, i really dont mind. If anyone is interested enough to actually go to my blog and find out what i am doing, then they are going to find out WHAT IT IS I AM DOING. There is no secret in the experiences that i will have and i hope everyone can read and feel of the joy and love i experience as i fulfill my service to the Lord and bring others unto Him. You can be my fellow missionary in spreading the gospel by sharing my news and experience. Then you dont have to feel like you are waiting forever to go on a mission with Jordan :) By the Way, Jordan i wouldnt mind seein a little of your writing in my letters from you guys either! OH and crazy story!! I cant share the whole thing but ling story short, i met a sister here who is from LITTLETON and was best friends with KAli!!!!! Her name was Camille Ocurin (O'kurin?) I believe...

Mrs. Frank i hope you received the thing i sent back to you, thanks for making it so easy to get done and i apologize for not getting it done before i left, i was having trouble getting anything done before i left.

Matt, there is no question that the advesary is trying his hardest to discourage you. You are in a prime position, alone, nervous, and unaware of what lies ahead. I experienced the exact same feelings before i left and i cant tell you how many times i questioned whether or not i should really be leaving on a mission. I promise that once you get set aprat, all that will falt out disappear and you will feel a peace like you never thought possible. being a servant of the Lord is one of the most spectacular things to experience. Keep in mind that once you are in the MTC, it doesnt mean that you are no longer subject to temptation. You will still feel feelings of nervousness and inadequacy at times, but when this happens just follow in the ways of the Lord and say "get thee behind me Satan. I know who you are and you know who i am" You are a servant of the Lord, and he will give you the strentgh necessary to accomplish any task that is set before you, if you put your whole trust and faith in Him. As far as what you should bring to the MTC.. Sweat pants to sleep in, the rooms are freezing and the blankets are awful haha Also when you get here go to the bookstore and buy the highlighters that kind of look like candy canes with verticle stripes. They are on the top left in the plastic bins where all the pens are. They ROCK!!! haha also dont bring temple clothes, you get them for free as a missionary.

Brother and Sister Hodson, thank you so much for your note and the extra "mission funds" i truly appreciate it and it is already going to use for supplies i have needed and such. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

I am out of time and i wish i could go on. Quickly i talked to a guy at the RC last week for 40 mins!! I got him to commit to go to church and watch conference this week.

Lov eelder baines

Photography Project.....

So I have this project in one of my classes that we are working on. It is a photo montage and had to include at least four images in it and have a "Theme" or reason why we were putting the images into it that we were. I was having a really hard time trying to figure out what I was going to do for it, and then I felt like I have been thinking a lot about Colton and what he is doing so I decided to do something related to him. Here is what I came up with, there will most likely be some adjustments done after my first critique, let me know what you think! We look forward to his next letter, he sounds like he's doing great and leaves on Thursday for the Dominican Republic.