Elder Jon Daniel: 12-30-13

Hello Everybody!!

Thank you guys for the presents, the ties, the music, the CTR rings, the flag, the watch, the money AND the date filled cookies. I only need about one of those a week or I'll go into a sugar coma, haha. It was great to see all you guys! I still can’t get over how deep Walter's voice is. He might be able to beat me up by the time I get back. Looked and sounded like everyone was doing great! I can’t wait for Mother’s Day now, it is right around the corner, haha.

This week has still been very slow due to the Holidays, especially this week because of Christmas. We managed to get a lesson in with one of our former investigators, Mike. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I don’t know if I already told you about him before, but he has been taught by the missionaries for a while and he still has some issues with things. We are still working with him trying to find out how we can help him feel the spirit and provide him with what he needs. The best things for him right now that were working on with him is building his faith in Jesus Christ and helping him understand that God is his loving Heavenly Father.

I went on exchanges with one of my zone leaders at the beginning of the week, Elder Roundy. He's quite the character, haha. He knows how to make missionary work fun and still get things done. I went to his area and the work was pretty slow there as well, but we got some awesome contacts and potentials from talking to people on the street. We also had to make a mail run before Christmas so everyone in the zone got their presents on time, so we took a road trip all the way to Vista, picked up the mail, went to lunch at a burger place called The Habit, then dropped off everyone's mail in the zone.

Yesterday at church the topic for sacrament meeting was Patriarchal Blessings. It was a good refresher about what they are and how much of a blessing and personal guide they are in our lives. Every worthy member is entitled to one, so get worthy and get it if you haven't already! I wish I would've gotten mine way sooner than I did. You don’t really have to be a certain age either, one of the speakers said that her dad, who was the Patriarch of the Irvine Stake, gave a Patriarchal blessing to an 8 year old before, it really just depends on when you feel ready. Another cool thing is our Stake, the Murrieta Stake, was chosen out of 14 stakes in the entire world to pilot a family history program and using it in missionary work, helping others feel the spirit of Elijah and getting them interested in the church. That’s another thing that you guys can do as well, start getting involved in family history work, genealogy, and feel'n the spirit of Elijah.

Well I gotta go. Like I always say, be strong, stay true, and look out for each other while I'm gone, alright?

I love you guys,

-Elder Daniel