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

 

MTC District Friend

Jeff Bryant

Hey Brother Daniel! We were just at the Independence, MO Visitor's Center and met Sister Anderson. She was at the MTC with Elder Daniel and got to know him well. Here is her picture with my daughter, Hailyn.

Skateboarding and Procrastinating Prepared Me For Missionary Work 7/30/2013

FAAAAAAAMMMMM

That’s so cool that the Bryant’s saw Sister Anderson!!! Our district did pretty much everything together and we grew super close. Out of all the sisters she was probably the one I was closest to. I also gave her a blessing our second night at the MTC. Yeah that’s awesome sounds like she's doing great!!

A ton of stuff has happened in the last week!!

 One night while contacting last week it was getting late and we weren’t having much success. We were about to walk home when I felt like we should walk down main street a little while longer. Low and behold I heard a familiar sound. Across the street I beheld a group of kids skating a stair set and a bench. HALLELUJAH!!! We ran across the street through traffic and I started talking to them like I would to my skater buddies back home. I talked to him about tricks, the spot they were skating, his board, his favorite skater, and then I somehow snuck the gospel in there somehow. We ended up accepting a Book of Mormon and we set a time to come back and teach him!! CHYEAH!! And the same exact thing happened a few days ago as well. I ran into another skater, got to know him, then gave him a Book of Mormon and set a time to come back and teach him! So every time I see any skaters I do not hesitate to go up and talk to them. I also just emailed my mission president and asked if I could show them tricks, so hopefully he says yes, that would be sick.

Also another cool thing that happened. As we were walking back one night from contacting we ran into this old lady. She was about in her 60s or 70s, very frail and homeless looking and had her with her grandson outside of a bar. We got to talking and she told us she had a medley of health problems that she had no money at all, and that she didn’t know how she was going to take care of her grandson. Something told me as we were talking to her " get out you wallet and give her your five dollars" Soooo I listened and offered it to her as we were leaving. She told us that it was just enough to buy her grandson milk and bread and that she didn’t know how she was going to feed him that night until I gave her the money. So that was pretty cool.

I gave my first talk on Sunday!! We had less than 24 hours to prepare and to top it off President Kendrick told us he was going to be there to hear us speak!.... no pressure huh? haha. Our talks ended up being surprisingly great!! So I guess you could say skateboarding and procrastinating to prepare my talks prepared me for my mission! Who would’ve thought!!

Welp I gotta go guys,
Stay true and look out for each other
 

-Elder Daniel

Mi Familia,

 

Que Pasa!! Can ya’ll believe I've already been out a month? Crazy, huh? Yes you got the pictures!! Dad, sweet new whip! How’s the cougar doing by the way? Have you sold that old clunker yet? haha. And I was just thinking of you and Webelos and how ya’ll were doing. Looks like ya’ll are having a blast! But you’re still flying solo?! They’ll call someone soon though, I hope. Mom, the watch still works, the plate on the bottom broke off and I can’t get it back on is all. Thanks for mailing my board to Noah, I really appreciate it. Hang in there Madre, you can do it!! And that’s so cool you guys are going to Nauvoo, Andy is going to the Coast guard, and Jerry and Dana are moving to Chicago. That stinks though, I haven’t even seen them yet, and Aunt Dana said she would bring me cookies!! haha.

 

Alright, so yeah my Spanish is getting better. I've been on two exchanges with the Spanish elders and that’s helped out a lot, One of those was with elder Hansen who is 6 foot 10, dude is a giant, we had a bunch of lessons planned but they all cancelled, so we ended up meeting with a former in Oceanside and talked with him about his goats or "chivos" haha, it was a good time, you have a lot of adventures on your mission. Spanish work is so fun! They’re such nice and funny people. So were still working on finding people. We mostly visit less actives and formers. We had a ward activity that we hosted called "night with the missionaries" that was a big hit, I had no hopes of anybody coming to it, but we had a big crowd, it was fun, and we may have gotten some investigators out of it. So that was good.

 I went on another exchange with one of the head honchos, Elder Lewis, who is one of our zone leaders. He really opened my eyes to how much authority and power we have as missionaries as well as how important the work is. We drove up to a curb and we saw some folks walking down the street and he said "Elder, we need to talk to these people right now!" I’m like, "what?!” like right now?!" So he jumps out of the car and chases this woman down with her two kids and starts talking to them and he told me to talk to the guy across the street, so I ran across the street and stopped this guy walking his dog and talked to him about what we believe in. It was pretty crazy!! haha I've never chased someone down like that to talk to them before. Anyway he explained to me that there are three reasons why we don’t contact people. Fear of man, fear of rejection, and laziness. And he made me realize I’m not just out here in Cali just chillin. But I have a duty and there is no reason to fear. And if you get over that fear you will be so blessed and edified and the work will progress tenfold.

Well it’s that time again, wish I could write more.

Love you guys, look out for each other and stay true

 

-Elder Daniel

 

P.S. - When you guys mail me anything make sure you put my first name as well because there is another Elder Daniel in the mission!!

7-16-13

Daniel Family!!!

 

     So great to hear from ya'll!!! I'm glad you got the picture! I promise I'll get some more to you soon. I'll be sending the SD card home in a couple of days, I just haven't had time. Daylon lives in Vista!? I'm in the Vista Stake!! He's not in my area, but he's pretty close. I might refer him to the Elders there maybe.

Alright, this week. It's been pretty slow. We're doing A LOT of finding. I'm getting better at my Spanish, haha. I can do a basic contact to any Hispanic person we run into now. Elder Thompson is teaching me a little bit during his language study everyday. It's been kind of hard with the less actives we've been meeting with. Marrital problems, addictions, and the fact that they don't want much to do with us has been a challenge. It's been a great learning experience. We learn how to help them with their personal problems and struggles and you learn to develop a love for these people, even though it may be hard at times. Helping them understand that they are not alone and that they're Heavenly Father will always be there for them with his arms out stretched is such a sweet feeling, let me tell ya!

 

I'm also learning that the spirit is so crucial and essential in this work. I am starting to recognize how it works. I'm doing all I can to have it's influence present in this work. It is so important that it is always there guiding you and touching the hearts of those you teach and testify to.

 

Even though sometimes you can get discouraged out here, I am reminded of why I'm here, I can either be a loser missionary and come home the same way I left or let this short time I have to serve the Lord change my life forever. Those times of trial and discouragement just make you stronger. I'm doing things that I never thought I could ever do. I love this work and I'm so glad I decided to come out on a mission.

 

 

Well I'm out of time, you guys sound like your doing great at home. Keep staying righteous and being good examples. Love one another. Do everything you can to have the spirit present in your lives.

 

I love you so much guys, look out for each other!

-Elder Daniel