Sister Josie Dalley: I Know that My Redeemer Lives

Everything is new, everything is exciting and everything is beautiful :):) I am so grateful for everything that I have experienced good and bad:):)!

We didn’t get to go to FHE this week because they were going on trampolines. In the white handbook it specifically says “Do not go on trampolines.” They must know me and know I would probably injure myself.

Tuesday we were driving a lot and I told sister Henrie the entire plot, in depth, of Fantastic Mr. Fox. Hopefully when she goes home she will watch it and I hope she will appreciate it as much as I do. After that we had a member dinner with Mahana and Keili to a yummy soup and salad bar called Soup Plantation. Oh my gosh, it made me so happy.

My childhood pen pal from the Philippines found me on facebook and has been messaging me. It is so great! We have been catching up and I get to hear about how her life is going.

It feels like have been a missionary forever and it also feels like it is flying by. It is kind of weird. This week was another week in paradise.

Wednesday in personal studies, I have been trying to read the Book of Mormon more. I am reading it again just strait through. Very often our personal studies are not focused on what we need but more on what our investigators need. I now read the Book of Mormon with a different mindset, as a missionary and it applies just to me. I swear that is how the Book of Mormon is, it applies to everything we are doing. It is the best, I love the Book of Mormon!

We contact and contact and contact. So woot woot for that. We had a lesson with our investigator Caroline. It is kind of frustrating teaching her cuz she knows it all. She knows all the doctrine. She knows it is good. But she has had a hard past.

Some things stand out to her and some things she knows are true but she has a hard time feeling it. I got to bear my testimony about the scriptures. I want her to get it because I love her.

We were true Californians and had In -n- Out for dinner.

Happy March!

Thursday - We decided to do yoga instead of run. It was me and sister Henrie in our apartment with me going I’ve done this pose in yoga before - I don’t know what it is called and I don’t know what it does but we’ll try it. We had a zone conference about using technology in mission work. I still have no clue how to use facebook so if you see anything I post where you say “what is she doing?” It is because I have no clue. That night all three of our appointments fell through so we did more contacting.

Friday we ran to the ocean. It is my ocean. I just love the ocean, Sister Henrie is super scared that I will take off and run into the water. She would tackle me to the ground. She is always keeping an eye on me making sure I am not taking off and jumping in.

In personal study, I studied “Mountains to Climb” from President Eyring. It was awesome. It reminded me of Jake and his “Give me this Mountain” thing. He is my bestie I love him. I am so grateful we get to serve our missions together and we get to build off each other. Except for it is more me building off of him because he’s awesome.

We went to dinner with a member named Clara. She is awesome. She is a returned missionary and is a nurse in the military. I told her I want to be a labor and delivery nurse and she was like “marines are always having babies." I’d totally do that so it is great!

It is kind of hard because we only teach single people 18 - 30 years old so we end up giving people away. That’s ok because we rejoice in bringing people to the gospel.

Saturday we did a whole bunch of contacting and visiting less active members. We also had a ward conference dinner where we learned how to have a happy marriage. Don’t really need that yet but it is good. That is what we get for being in a YSA ward. It was free food.

We visited a less active and knocked at the door just as the pizza guy pulled up so he answered the door thinking we had his pizza. I said, “I know we are not the pizza guy but I guess we are pretty cool too.” He was like ,”Whoa, how did you know I ordered pizza.” I wanted to answer that it was because we just knew because were on the Lord’s errand. It was just funny and he was just laughing.

Sunday: We had ward council and ward conference. The cutest little girl in the lobby of the church while we were waiting for ward council. She poked her mom and said, “Mom those are missionaries!” She treated us like super heroes. It was great.

Then we went contacting a lot.

While we were contacting I climbed a tree. Probably shouldn’t have because I got a few scrapes but I climbed a tree and it was great. It made me happy!

I also found a tree that had tree stars. Shout out to Land Before Time my childhood movie! They just brought me such joy and happiness.

Then we did more contacting, a lot more contacting. I love it. I love where I serve. I love my mission.

My patriarchal blessing it talks about me being able to feel the spirit through music. I have always known this but I have taken that to a whole new level and have been studying the hymns. So, the hymn that I studied this week was “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” This is one of my all time favorite hymns. I have it all marked and highlighted. It is my favorite thing. This is so cool because we sing it but don’t really think about what we are singing. But just reading this is really comforting. This is my best friend who is in heaven who died for me and loves me. Reading this whole thing - he pleads for me above; he blesses me in my time of need; he hears me; he silences my fears. Reading it instead of just singing it is so powerful. It is just beautiful. I love the fourth verse. It repeats itself. Whenever the scriptures repeat it means it is important. You will have to do it because I am running out of time.

Love you so much!