Que pasa Mi Familia!!

Are the Fellows and the Campbell’s in your ward now? Did I tell you I ran into Kent and Brandon Campbell at the MTC?

I haven’t received the watch back yet. I did receive the sheets, thank you so much! They are no longer holy. I also received the bike tubes, they are amazing!

Don’t get stressed out! Say a prayer if you ever feel overwhelmed, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a missionary, it seriously helps.

Jeffery, Walter, and Dad keep up the good work with church. I know it’s hard and it sucks sometimes to go, but I promise you that you will always feel better than you did after you leave.

Can you tell Jeffery to send me my old skate stickers? They’re in my shoe box with the rest of my old stuff. (Unless he has any lying around)

This week was interesting. We have been meeting with this guy named Omar for a while who has been investigating for almost a year. The thing about Omar is that he doesn’t want to make any commitments, read, pray, go to church, or do anything really, but he still likes meeting with us. So we brought one of our ward missionaries with us, whose name is Jerry. Super cool old man in his 80s who is a convert, is friends with everybody, and is super funny. Anyway we had our first really solid lesson with him in a while, he usually talks our ears off and we never really get a lesson in, but this time we left a huge impact on him. Well probably bring Jerry with us more often, although Jerry likes to hijack lesson sometimes, haha. It’s all good, he a great guy. So hopefully he starts keeping commitments, acting by faith, and seeing the fruits of his labors.

We met with a referral named Lara for the first time last week who is investigating because her daughter is dating someone who is LDS. She is a school teacher so she is very analytical and intellectual. She ended up bashing with the member we brought with us a little bit and that kind of stunk, but she still has questions so were meeting with her later this week. so we'll see how that goes.

Something really random happened Thursday when we went to go pick up our dry cleaning, we ended up talking to the old Asian lady that works there, we couldn’t understand her too much though, she didn’t speak a lot of English. Anyway, she expressed that she was going through a hard time and had some health problems as well. She said she believed in the same Jesus and she asked us for a blessing. She’s not a member, we never met her before, and so I was very surprised that she knew what that was. So she took us to the back of her shop, through the jungle of suits and dresses, she pulled up a chair and I gave her a blessing with the help of Elder Thompson. So that was pretty cool, I felt really good afterward.

I wish I could write more because I have more to say, but I have to go.

I love and miss you guys, I think about you and pray for you all the time.

Stay true and look out for each other, alright?

- Elder Jon Daniel

 

9-9-13

 

 

Heeyyoooooooo'

What’s up guys! Alright so mom to answer your questions. I have received the bike tubes grandpa sent me, I got them yesterday. Clothes wise, I could use about three small short sleeve white shirts the ones that are 100% cotton would be best. I could use about three more pairs of pants 32 x 32 and if you can find them in grey, green, or brown that would be sweet. I have almost worn holes through the bottoms of my shoes, I can buy them out here if you guys send me around 40 - 50 dollars. I think that’s about it for clothes. I’ve asked everybody if it gets cold here and they say not at all really, the coldest it gets in winter is at night and it only drops in the 50s or 40s, plus I'm pretty far inland right now and probably won’t be near the coast for another few transfers. I brought my Carhart, a few other jackets and some long sleeve shirts so I should be fine. Moneywise, right now I could just use the money for some new shoes, that’s all I can think of. I'll let you know if I am I need of anything else. And yes, I did receive the wedding pictures.

Dad, I'm sorry, but missionaries aren’t allowed to use phones or access other internet sites, so I don’t really know what to do about my bank card. I really appreciate it though and it would be sweet to use it. If it causes to much more problems then we may just have to cancel it. I don’t know. We'll get it figured out. It sucks that I'm super busy. Sounds like scouts is doing good, it's got to be  a lot of fun working with Jack. I hear ya’ll are going to see The Eagles that should be epic!

Jeffery, I was actually planning on when I get back going on a big hike/camping trip thing, and not shaving for a month. haha. So I'm definitely down when I get back.

Alright, This week has been hot let me tell ya! My face almost matches the red tie dad got me for Christmas! So two elders from our district got emergency transferred and we got two new ones. Elder Gonzalez is from Mexico and Elder Kriser is from...drumroll......ALABAMA! Dothan, wherever that is, but it’s awesome to have someone from the south for a change. It's still been pretty slow here in Fallbrook. We’re working on strengthening the ward and finding still. Although this last week we had our mission president meet with Jason, one of our "investigators". He's been investigating for about five years, but is technically a member. He's just hasn’t been able to get baptized because of some things in his past and has to get first presidency permission. So the ball is rolling now and was hoping that the letter will come back in a few months. We also got a call back from one of our referrals, which never happen, and she wants to meet with us. Her name is Lara, her daughter is dating a Mormon and she wants to know more. I’ve been praying hard for success, to find people, and to be a better teacher. It’s has been pretty rough. A lot of the time I still feel like I don’t know enough and I'll never be able to be a great missionary, but then I always remember my branch presidents advice from the MTC and the scripture he showed me. (Ether 12:27) Were given weaknesses and trials for a reason, to humble ourselves and put our trust in the Lord and to become strong through Him. He told me it's perfectly fine to feel inadequate, if you didn’t feel inadequate there’s probably something wrong, because none of us are perfect or ever will be in this life. So that gives me a lot of comfort and strength when times get tough.

 I love all you guys, I'll see ya soon. Christmas is right around the corner.

Stay true, and look out for each other

 -Elder Jon Daniel

9-3-13

How y’all doing?

Walter has a truck! A Ford Ranger?! What!? That boy better have his Eagle Papers in!! Anthony, welcome to the big leagues buddy!! You’re growing up too fast!!

Dad, that’s so cool that Jack is the new webelos leader, you guys are going to do great. Tell the boys I said what’s up!

I sent the memory card a few days ago, so it should be home soon.

Alright, missionary stuff we’re still working on finding. We don’t really have any investigators. We’ve been going by a ton of referrals and they’re usually never home or not interested. So then we contact people on the street, we have had some success with that in the past, but not lately. All you can do is be obedient, do all that the Lord asks of you and thrust in your sickle with all your might and see where the chips fall from there. I have a feeling Fallbrook is going to be my toughest area. It's a good thing I'm going through the inevitable "mud" every missionary goes through early on in my mission.

We had zone conference last Wednesday. President Kendrick trained us on how to give talks in church, it was super good. When I get back I’m going to be able to give talks like Elder Holland. He also gave us some counsel at the end that struck me. He said that "if you’re out here focusing on how the mission is going to bless your life you’re not going to be successful. You’re out here to find, teach, and baptize and bring your brothers and sisters back into the fold. That’s your purpose and needs to be your main and only focus. After that, then the blessings of a mission will take its course." I kind of got stuck in a rut for a while and forgot why I came out here in the first place, I was only thinking about me. So for now on all my efforts will be focused outward and on my purpose as a missionary.

Hahaha, One more story, so we were eating dinner with a family on Sunday, a mom a dad and their four daughters, and I almost died!  We had roast and potatoes, and I ate way too fast and couldn’t breathe. Long story short I had to run to the bathroom and well, use your imagination. On the bright side, after that we had a super sweet lesson on the Book of Mormon! So I don’t think that family will ever forget Elder Daniel anytime soon, haha.

I've been praying to be a better missionary and I've still been having a few issues with my comp. This morning I felt like I should study some old notes and scriptures and stuff and so I did. and I found a scripture that was buried in my notes that answered my prayers perfectly. 1John 2: 8-11 it helped me out a lot.

We’ve been on exchanges a few times this last week and they’ve both been in my area, so that means I’ve been in charge. Pretty scary, but they went well. I survived!! What an exchange is where you switch companions for a day so that you can learn from each other.

 Well I love you all, I think aboutcha all the time. Like I always say “stay true and look out for each other"

 -Elder Daniel