Dear Shanell,

On Wednesday I forced my body to go out knocking! After 2 1/2 hours, however, I wished I hadn't. My feet would not go further. Both of my ankles are swollen up like balloons and my feet hurt! Elder Adams and I tracted together today. On the last door we knocked, no one answered so I asked if we could sit down. We sat down on the front patio of the house. After 5 minutes, a lady named Linda finally came out and we set a return appointment for tomorrow at 2!! It was neat!

Elder Adams tried out a new approach. We took a tape player and played an excerpt from "Our Heavenly Father's Plan" and it really caught some people's attention. I think some people are just afraid they might learn something! If only they would understand that God loves them and that he does have a plan for them! I know He does! I wish everyone would just listen to us.

On Thursday Elder Steed and I knocked together and Elders Adams and Angst knocked together on the opposite side of the street. Well, I heard a song by Abba coming from a house on their side and I liked the song, so I turned to Elder Steed and said, "Let's do that house!" We cut across the street and much to our surprise, we got in the house!! It was cool! While we were in there, Elder Adams and Angst knocked on the door and when I answered, they flipped out! They were a bit lost why we were there. It was funny!

On Friday I went to the doctor about my sunburn and he told me to rest and not walk too much. At about 4 Sisters Dulics and Kuhn picked us up in downtown Adelaide after us taking a train there, and took us to a family's home named Klasowski. They fixed Elder Adams and I tea. We went to see Peter Hollow for a while and then the sisters dropped us off at the train station. It took forever for us to get home because it stopped for 45 minutes while the police arrested some Aborigines for fighting. Elder Adams and I met a few people and got 3-5 golden questions asked. I explained about Mormon and our nickname to 3 teenagers and it was neat! We finally arrived back at our flat after a guy and his wife offered us a ride from the train stop. They were very nice people.

On Saturday we went tracting and then had lunch and studied while Elders Adams and Steed taught. Later we went to Inatio Ben's for tea and it was a buffet. It was great! Inatio and his wife, Lynn, brought us home and we said good-bye to them. They are neat people and I love them!

On Sunday we got up, got dressed, went to correlation meeting and then to church. Brother Pilkington is now the Elder's Quorum President and he'll be a good one. We arranged for a young boy, Carl Gooley, to get a ride to church and he arrived with Chris Maude. He really enjoyed church. He is 14 years old and very nice. Later Elder Adams and I went to tea at Maureen Pierce's home. Then we went to the Bowey's. They showed us the movie "Man From Snowy River". It was fun to compare it to the poem by "Banjo" Paterson. It is 3 pages long and I have it memorized. It's neat!

I found out that Carl's parents told Elder Maile that he didn't enjoy church. I know that is a lie and it made me a little upset. It's hard to believe my mission has come to an end. I am scared to go home, but the excitement overpowers the fear.

Monday was one of the most exciting days! My mom and dad got here at 6 pm and Elder Adams and I were officially released into the custody of my parents. We all went to Waterfall Gully. They were excited to be here. I am really going to miss Elders Steed and Angst. In my interview with President Gray today, it hit kind of hard that I am going home. I feel kind of excited and lost already.

On Tuesday Peter Hollow picked us up and we went to the Flinders Range. We got lost and drove for 12 hours. We did see a lot of the outback from Adelaide to almost Leigh Creek above Port Augusta. We never really saw the gorges, though. We rented a Ford Meteor at the airport and dropped my parents off at the hotel, and then Adams and I went back to the mission home where we are staying.

Love,
Elder Wallentine