How ya'll doing today!

 

Sorry I didn’t write ya’ll last week. I had no time at all. 

 

And I'm running EXTREMELY short on time today too so forgive me for how short this letter is and if I misspell anything.

 

Can you tell Jeffery and Walter and Spencer to check their emails? They never send anything back gosh dang it!! haha. I have the chance to write to them every week and I miss talking to my bros!

 

How are those planner covers coming along? Have ya’ll finished decorating them yet? Try to get them back quick because I start the next transfer tomorrow!

 

I wish I could be at the Smith Lake with you guys so bad.

 

Anyway, the work. work work wooooork.... I don’t know how my body gets up at 6:00 every morning, runs for half an hour. Deprived on sleep and drained of energy every day from riding bikes and walking all around town...everyday.. yeah. It's fun though.

 

Have I told ya’ll that it feels like a foreign mission here sometimes? Some parts of town feel like you’re in straight up Mexico, like no joke, where nobody speaks a lick of English and there is mariachi music blasting and little Hispanic kids running around the streets. That’s another thing that President Vaughn told me that I didn’t believe, “you know, It is going to feel like you’re in a foreign country." again I was proven wrong.

 

I also completely understand what Elder Nkumbule said about being grateful for the companions you’ll like, because you won’t have many of them. My companion has been getting on my nerves ALOT lately, haha. I could write you a whole encyclopedia of things he does that tick me off, but let’s just not go there. It's been really tough, but that’s what this mission is all about. It wasn’t supposed to be easy, it was supposed to be hard, so we could learn and grow and be refined.

 

We taught one of the skaters that I contacted into one night about the restoration, Chyeah!! He's got a lot of potential.

 

We’ve also gave a ton of blessings this week! We gave a sister in one of the wards a blessing who was worried about her baby who is soon to be born. We gave one of our investigators a blessing that has been going through a very hard time financially, with his health, and with his wife. I gave a blessing to my companion because he's been feeling really sick. And we gave a blessing to a member on Camp Pendleton who is a marine because he had a fever and was being deployed the next day. There is seriously no greater feeling than being able to provide comfort to those who need it so bad.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention part of our area is on base on Camp Pendleton where all the marines are stationed. We’ve been out there a ton to teach the marines who are less active or need help. It is huuuuuuuuge. It goes from small town California to vast mountainous desert with Humvees and helicopter’s everywhere. It’s pretty sweet. We run into marines all over Fallbrook, some are very cool and we’ve had some really great conversations with some, and others not so much, they got to be tough guys and blow us off. It's fun though.

 

We picked up two investigators last week, a young marine couple living just off base with a one year old son. We taught them the first two lessons and invited them to be baptized, they said that if they found out that the things that we are teaching them are true they would, and they even came to church yesterday. They’re looking for a church because they are starting a family. Hopefully I can be one of the elders that they will remember who helped them find what they’ve been looking for and changed their life forever.

 

I also forgot to tell ya’ll that the mission split and became the Irvine mission north of us a little bit before I got here, so the whole northern half pretty much got cut off. So all the areas like San Clemente, Mission Viejo, Laguna Beach, and Rancho Santa Margarita are in that mission now. We still have the cool areas though like Del mar, Carlsbad, Oceanside, and Vista.

 

Also, just to clarify I was not changed to Spanish speaking, I just have a comp who was called Spanish speaking and he's been teaching me a little bit. So we would be considered a zebra companionship, haha.

 

Another thing, don’t delete the photos off the memory card when you get it and download them to the computer! haha, I have a thumb drive that I keep them all on so I'll delete them if I need room. Thanks though.

 

well I love you all, I hope all is well without me there, look out for each other and stay true,  we are so blessed with the knowledge we have, don’t ever lose sight of it.

 

Love your son

-Elder Daniel