Saturday, May 30, 2015

Foreign in the Mainland 5-4-15


Kent is back already!!? Holy crap I’m on death row!!!!! It’s hard to believe summer is pretty much already here. Stake conference sounded like it went great, I can’t wait to hear the Birmingham mission president speak. He sounds like a stud. Sounds like y’all got a lot of excited busy stuff happening.
I’ve noticed that there is a crazy amount of cultural diversity here in Del Mar. The main ethnicities here are Asian, Persian, Hispanic, and people from Norway, Sweden and Finland. The other day we actually contacted a Chinese couple, with a bit of a language barrier, and then literally right after that we tracked into a guy from Finland. (Whose ex-wife was actually lds we found out.) We also had dinner with a family from the ward who invited their neighbors over who are from Sweden and we shared a short message on Christ. They had a little daughter who only spoke German it was pretty cool. There is a recent convert in the ward who we shared a message with at the church her name is Sister Lee and every time we get her to read from the Book of Mormon she only reads it in Mandarin, it’s pretty awesome. I remember right before I left for my mission Jeffery and I were hanging out with Nick Openshaw about to go skate and I was talking to his parents about my mission in Southern California. They asked me what language I was speaking and I told them English speaking. And they said " haha, no you’re not, you’re gonna be speaking whatever they're speak’n down there bud." In my head I was thinking pshh, okay whatever, but I am now eating my words, or thoughts. I forgot to mention that in the Del Mar ward they actually have a Farsi Speaking group, it’s one of two in the state of California and one of three in the world, and it’s pretty amazing to see how the gospel will flood the earth. He will always find a way to do so.

We have been teaching Chris and Gloria, some recent converts of a few months, and their son Doug who is on date to be baptized. They were actually found by some other missionaries who contacted them in our complex while they were moving in and now they’re members of the church. You seriously never know who is ready to hear the gospel. We are working with Doug right now, he is fifteen, is very engrossed in video games, and is super quite, so he can be tough to read sometimes, but we are trying to figure out ways to get him out of his shell. We have a baptism for two young kids this weekend Alex and Daniel. They are from a part member family, their mom is a member and the dad is not. They are both so bright and super excited to be baptized. I’m so stoked for these kids.
We offered a lady help the other day as we were contacting and we ended up helping her and her boyfriend move out of their apartment. She didn’t seem too interested and was moving to Panesquitos which is in the San Diego Mission so we were kind of discouraged, but at around 5 o’clock we got a call from her telling us that she had a change of plans and needed help pretty bad because she had no one to help her move everything back into the house. So we went back and helped her move everything back into her living room. Now she has sparked an interest in what were all about and wants to meet up some time for a lesson, freak ya! And she wants to take us out to dinner which is pretty sweet too, I will never deny free food.

We were about to leave the church parking lot one day around 3 o’clock and a kid on a skateboard came rolling up to us, as he got closer we found out that it was one of our recent converts named Jesse just getting out of school. He asked us for a ride, but on one condition, which was for us to teach him and for him to invite a friend to our next lesson. So we gave him a lift to his place and taught him the story of Nephi's bow in his garage. If you want to see the epitome of a young kid who has the fire of the gospel in his eyes its Jesse, I’ve never met a young man like him in my life. He is such a stud. He’s fourteen and is the only member of his family, but you would think he had been a member his whole life. He has already decided that he is going on a mission too, he will kill it wherever he goes.
We taught Dale Parson's inactive brother in law the other day (Dale Parson does a lot of famous paintings for the church). We were going through our ward list looking for people we hadn't met or didn’t know (lost sheep) and we found him. He doesn't really have any interest in the church anymore, but super nice guy. He is works for the BSA so I was able to talk to him about my eagle and other scouting stuff.

I was able to bare my testimony at church yesterday. It feels so good when you get down from the pulpit, a quick shot of dopamine just shoots all throughout your body, haha. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what’s most important in life and how we find true joy. I talked about how the way to true joy and happiness is through serving others and forgetting about yourself. Matt 10:39 "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." It is truly the antidote for anything they got going on in our lives. Make someone’s day, do something nice for someone, the little things matter most.

I love you all,
-Elder Daniel

                                                                            Del Mar District
                                                       
                                                               VW Type 2s for daysss
                                     

                                                      Bomb Burrito from Karina's
                       Super nice neighborhood, Lebron James was married at this club house.
                            Quote in our ward mission leaders house, words to live by



 

 

North to South 4-27-15

Mom, that reminds me of the time we went to Arizona and you had poison ivy. That was miserable. I hope that it clears up fast.
So kind of a crazy week. I'm now in the Del Mar zone, I went from the completely opposite side of the mission top the other. The northern most area in the mission which bordered Riverside to the southern most which borders San Diego. The assistants called us Friday morning about an emergency transfer that needed to be made and I was out Saturday afternoon. So I'm no longer living with the Nash's anymore and am no longer with Elder Polatis or serving in the YSA/ Las Brisas ward. I'm now in the Carmel Valley ward, my new companion is Elder Matson, and we live with a member as well, is name is brother Bogart, haha. He is hilarious.
I'm sad that I was switched out so quick, we had a lot going on in Murrieta and I'm going to miss all the people up there. :( I'm glad I was able to see old faces again and do what I was sent there to do for the short time that I was there. Hopefully I will be able to go back up there soon for some baptisms. Liz and Ben are progressing very well and are in good hands with the new elder that took my spot. Its been pretty crazy jumping from area to area and getting the ward under my belt, but give it a few weeks and Ill have it down. 
The Carmel Valley ward is pretty amazing. The demographics of the Del Mar Stake are super different from any are I've served in on my mission so far. Its the highest tithing paying stake in the church, so that gives you an idea of what it may be like. A lot of the members are very successful in their careers. Most of them are lawyers, doctors, or involved in business. The ward is run very well. There are super expensive cars everywhere you look, its coastal, and nothing but super nice beautiful houses. The members here are awesome, they are incredibly missionary minded. 
I've only been in the area a few days so I promise I will have more info next week. And can you believe that Mothers day is in two weeks? The time that has passed since Christmas has been a dream. I will get you the information you need. As well as the rest of the info for the packages.
 
I love you all,
-Elder Daniel
 
                                                                       -Nuff said

                                          The Nashs (yes were covered in flour, long story)
                  ​-Brian just got back from a mission in France (left) and we've been teaching Ben (right) for a few months now. Going to miss these guys.
​                                                -Hike this morning with Brother Bogart!
 
 
 

4-20-15

Walter is hittn the big leagues! I like the Justin Bieber/Macklemore cut that your rockn now! haha. It looks good really.
I actually sold my bike a few weeks ago, sorry I didnt tell you. I was planning on giving the money back to Grandpa. I havent gotten the money yet, all the stuff has to go through the office first.
So I have a few boxes that Im still packing so I dont have the wieght yet, but I can give you the dimensions if you want them now.
So this week we picked up a new investigator. His name is Emilio and he is a friend of one of the returned missionaries in the branch. He is an ex marine, big guy, all tatted up and looks pretty intimidating, but he is one of the chillest guys you could ever meet. We taugh him the first lesson and ivited him to be baptized in the next few coming weeks and he accepted! And he actually asked if we could start meeting with him on a regular basis. So that was a super good start to the week.
We taught another one of our investigators from the YSA, named Liz, about the Plan of Salvation. I was able to make a pretty good visual aid on the chalk laying out the whole Plan of Happiness, thanks to my drawing skills. It went very well, she was super excited about it and is still rolling towards the 26th for her baptism.
 I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Waechtler in Cole Canyon last week. It was cool serving in a past area with one of my past companions being able to see old faces again from over a year ago. I saw Garrett Smedley and man has he grown! ( the members son who we lived with for 6 months last time I was in Murrieta.) Hes almost like a younger brother to me, so it was almost like seeing one of my own siblings after a year and a half. We picked up two new investigators in their ward, a mother and a daughter. (the daughter is actually dating a guy who is on a mission right now.) They were both going through a rough time so we were able to give them both blessings. It was a pretty spiritual experience for us and for them. They are super excited to learn more about the gospel.
After we exchanged back we saw some kids skateboarding at the church, I never let an oppurtunity like that pass me up, so we decided to go talk to them. When they saw us they stopped skating and tried to act all innoccent and thought we were going to chew them out and tell them to leave, it was pretty funny. But I showed them a few tricks and actually played them in a game of sk8 it was awesome! How we usually do it when we run into skaters is I take care of the skating aspect of the contact and whoever my comp is invites them to learn more. We found out that one of them is actually a less active member and his brother actually just got back from a mission in Italy! Talk about being in the right place at the right time. non of the others guys wanted to learn more and they kindly declined our offer, but a seed was planted for sure and a good reminder that that kid should go on a mission like his brother one day.
We had stake conference this past sunday and one of the speakers shared a poem that I like a lot. It is called " the Charge of the Light Brigade". It talks about a British light cavalry unit going straight into the front lines of battle against the Russian army in the mid 1800s. I love the second and third stanzas of the poem.
II
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
 Rode the six hundred.

III
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of hell
Rode the six hundred.
 
Today there is so much turmoil and darkness in the world that are being shot at us from all angles. But there is hope and strength knowing that we are on the winning side and that our captain is the Savior Himself. We need to face adversity, temptation and, hardship with strength, bravery, and courage just like the light brigade did when they went into their own valley of death.
 
I love you all,
-Elder Daniel
 
                                         -Mattson's house for Zone Activity!
 
-No big deal, just a Lambo. 
 
-After our game of SK8