Dalling History

What a great day it has been, and a wonderful dinner prepared by everyone! Here is the group picture taken after dinner, with full stomachs and great humor, but it is what it is! Actually, we missed a half dozen latecomers and it still was just about half the family. What a great blessing you all are to us and to each other. Love you all.

Fiji Mission Epilogue to our beloved Family and Friends July 14 2010 Is there life after a mission in Fiji ? Well yes, but definitely different! Our life in Fiji was pretty much scripted, but at home, we are much busier in so many different directions. It seems that everyone needs attention at the same time! We are remodeling our home to accommodate two families; daughter Janet and her great husband, Barry, will continue to live in the home. Our kids call it “elder care!” J We had a lovely open house at the meetinghouse on Saturday for family and friends who could attend. We had an opportunity to show off all the treasured gifts that we brought from our friends in Fiji . All my boys wore sulus. Sons Daryl, Dennis, Dan and David surround the little guy in the middle of the picture, who is still the patriarch.  Our two sons-in-law also had sulus but did not get into the picture. The bishop invited us to speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday and many friends and ...

Fiji Mission Report to our beloved Family and Friends Feb 3 2010 I know that we seem to be obsessed with life and death recently, and so it is that we sadly acknowledge the passing of our beautiful blue-eyed blond sister Ruth on Jan 28. She looks a little somber, as does my older brother Frank, in this 1935 picture from the archives, but she was always fun loving. I am the only one in the picture who saw the humor in living in a one-room log cabin in the Idaho wilderness! Nevertheless, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, and we do not question the timing! Twisted logic might conclude that if we were home, people would not die, but in a special way, because of our mission assignment, we feel as intimately connected, as if we were home.  We also give some credit to the wired world that helps to keep us in touch. And, ultimately, our mortal life is a preparation for exactly what our temple service is all about! We have sorted our ever-expanding descendants by generati...

Fiji Mission Report to our beloved Family and Friends June 29 2010   The Dalling’s are on the move! No, that is not the truck moving from Fiji ; it is the other Dennis Dalling family moving from North Carolina to Oregon . Our youngest son and family are finally coming home. We will probably get there first but not any more rested. We are taking home more than we brought and we have given away a ton of stuff. Everywhere we go we get another gift that is precious so we just add another suitcase! This has been such an incredible week that we cannot leave our mission without sharing some of our emotions. We promise that this is it from Fiji ! The Friday Cultural Show was as grand as we expected even though it was staged outside on the athletic field in a pouring rainstorm! Typically Fiji , the show went on. They erected a large elaborate covered stage with professional lighting and sound and several very large tents for the spectators to sit on mats. The downside was ...

Fiji Mission Report to our beloved Family and Friends Jan 26 2010   We know this is sounding so redundant, but what a week it was! Pres Ostler was complaining J that it has been almost two months since we had a member of the Quorum of The Twelve Apostles or one of the First Presidency visit Fiji. This week we had Elder D Todd Christofferson, one of our newest apostles, and his lovely wife, visit our little island. Elder Jay Jensen of the presidency of the Seventy and his wife, Elder James Hamula and his two beautiful daughters, and Elder and Sister Wakolo, our Area Authority accompanied them! The entire party and stake leaders arranged to come to the temple on Friday and filled one session. What a joy to be in the temple with them! Most of you will not remember the good old days with stake conferences every 3 months and always two general authorities that would attend. Of course, there were far fewer stakes and far fewer members in those days. When we were in Ala...