Elder Jon Daniel: 6-9-14

Hello everyone!

I hope there wasn’t too much damage back home, I heard there was some bad storms down south and I hope all of the poison oak is healing quickly. It’s weird that its summer already, it doesn’t fell like it one bit. Over here there is no fluctuation between seasons and I’m a missionary, so summer doesn’t have the same meaning as it used too. And school isn’t out yet here, they don’t get out till the middle of this week.

This week we were able to pick up a new investigator. His name is Derek, he spent 10 years in the marines and has been on a few deployments out to the Middle East and has a wife and a 1 year old daughter. One of his buddies from the service found the church and was baptized and that’s what sparked Derek's interest. He saw how much it changed his life and he wants to be a good father and husband. We stopped by and met with him and answered all of the questions he had about the church. He is really fascinated that we keep food storage and that we go on missions for 2 years. He thought it was really cool. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said that he is a fast reader and he would be done with it by Thursday, so we will be stopping by to follow up with him on that. Hopefully he will pick up the subject matter rather than speed read through the whole thing and not get much out of it. When you really take the time to read and ponder on its message the spirit will be able to touch your heart and testify to you of its truthfulness. But whatever floats your boat.

Al had a fever last Friday and was feeling pretty terrible so we were able to go give him a blessing. We haven’t been able to teach him that much in depth about the Priesthood so it was very good for him to experience that for himself. He actually got better very quickly, and had us over the next night for a lesson, and guess what we taught him about? On Sunday he was able to meet with the bishop on receiving the Aaronic Priesthood and should be receiving it very soon. Al seriously is the most prepared human being I have ever met to receive the blessings of the gospel. He is amazing.

We met with a less active member in our ward for the first time last Tuesday, his name is Danny, we weren’t able to meet with him for a while because he was in the slammer for a bit for reasons we don’t know. When the door opened this 20 something big Hispanic kid with long black hair and a scraggly beard answered, a little intimidating at first, but we got to talking and found out he was a pretty cool guy. We talked to him about surfing for a while and then about the gospel. He hasn’t been to church in a very long time, he was even going to go on a mission, so we will see what we can do to get him back up and active again, super cool dude.

We were out one night last week walking around and we saw this guy in his drive way hosing out a cooler and we asked him if he needed any help. He told us that he was good, that he was just brewing some beer. So we asked him how it worked and he showed us the crash course to brewing stout. He showed us his hops and barley that he was growing in his back yard and all the steps it takes to make his beer. He said that he trades the stuff he brews to his buddy who is a plumber in collateral for doing work on his house. He wasn’t interested in what we had to say, but he said we were always welcome back for a drink on the weekend if we were ever interested, haha. Unfortunately not any time soon.

We have dinner with the sisters just about every night and one night last week we had dinner with a part member family in the ward, in their backyard because the husband wasn’t home yet. And their son Danny was practicing his baseball in the back yard with a cardboard cylinder. He gave it one goes swing and tried to hit the tennis ball that he was aiming for, missed, and the cardboard cylinder that he was using broke in two and flung straight for us at the table. I felt it wiz right past my head and sail straight for Sister Broadbent's face. I felt really bad for her, she was probably really embarrassed, but all of us could not contain our laughter, it was hilarious!

You guys I know that this church is true, and I know that the work that we are engaged in is the Lord's work. President George Albert Smith stated "When that time comes that, when you go down into the ages of eternity that is a long time, you will have the love and gratitude of every man and woman and child to whom you have been instrumental in bringing eternal happiness." Isn’t that worthwhile? Everything in this life is temporal and will all end one day, but the relationships we kindle and the joy and happiness that we will be able to experience with those that we have helped embrace the gospel is eternal. It never ends.

I love you all,

Stay strong, stay true, and look out for one another while I’m away, alright?

Your big brother, son, and friend,

-Elder Jon Daniel