Oh Happy Day!

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Hello, what’s good?

I feel like everything in the hymns and scriptures can be applicable to what we are doing at the time. I studied several hymns this week. They are beautiful. To me right now they scream missionary work. We can always learn something new or find something old. I love it.

Tuesday we were taken by our amazing member Chelsea and her little sister Shannon to the temple with our zone. Extra Joy! I have missed the temple. I know it has only been a few short months since I have been there. It is the best! It will be 6 months until I am able to go again. It was calm and peaceful and love and joy. Everything about it it was so peaceful. In the San Diego temple there is an atrium where you can see to the outside. It is just beautiful. After the temple we went to lunch and then went out to work.

Wednesday after our morning run and studies we went to president interviews. He is awesome and is a great mission president. My goal is to brighten three people a day through small acts of service. Then we took our booth to MiraCosta and got to talk to tons of people YSA age. We were ten feet away from the JW booth. It was like a spiritual standoff. I just want to give them a Book of Mormon. We talked to people who were very open to talking about religion. Most of their questions were about polygamy and caffeine. It was good they were able to hear their questions and help them hear truth. We went to the Packard’s for dinner and shared the video Elder Bednar in England. We shared a message with Andi who is here from Mexico and lives with a member family. She is so fun.

Thursday we had a new member lesson with Megan. We went back and did our studies. I love studies. We made cookies and a card for Josilyn because she moved to Hawaii. We went out and worked and then went to dinner with Katie. She is awesome she is so cool. She is a newly reactivated member. She was inactive for like 15 years and she seems like the most solid member but is recently getting back into the church. We visited four inactive people’s houses and two of the four came to church on Sunday so we were so happy. Some of their challenges were a simple problem like not having a ride. We were like, “eternal salvation is worth it.”

Sister Henrie was sick on Friday so I cleaned and organized the house all day while she slept.

- I love working, it is the best! -

Saturday, I filmed what I wanted to post on the facebook challenge that my brother challenged me to do. It took me 24 times and I have a lot of funny bloopers. We went out and worked all day. Later we took Nick our ward mission leader some cookies and went to ward correlation meeting. We watched him eat all 12 cookies during the meeting. Afterward we talked to a member, Adrianna, and helped her through some stressful things she is going through.

Sunday, I love Sunday, it is just such a happy day. The church is true. It was such a good meeting. We worked - it was a beautiful day! We met a bunch of cool people. Most are agnostic, they are willing to look but they are super skeptical. This week our mission challenge was how many Priuses we saw and how many people we invited to share their testimony on social media. So I challenge all of you to share your testimony. Everyone is looking at their phones anyway. They may as well be looking at something good. Post your testimony on social media.

This morning was awesome, went on a little hike and visited flower fields (like the tulip in best two years but all different kinds of flowers). It has been a great week. I am so excited to hear about all of you this week. I love you, God loves you. Toodeloo!

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@myldsmail.net

OJ, Biker Gangs and Sea Lions

Hey Everybody,

Last Monday after emailing we tried to get some of our less actives to come to FHE. At FHE we juiced a whole bunch of orange to give freshly squeezed orange juice to runners at a weekend fundraiser. It was so much fun!

We went and talked to more people. We were in an area we had been in before and we saw a girl and without thinking I called out to her “Hi, Katie!” She turned around and she was like “Ah, you remembered my name.” We contacted her before back in the beginning of my first transfer. I know Heavenly Father helped me in remembering his daughter Katie’s name because I have no clue how I remembered it. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and she hadn’t read it yet but she was like, “It must be a sign I need to go read that book.” We agreed. Tender mercy.

Tuesday I studied A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, It is really cool, it is all about service. Service is what the Savior did. I am really excited about the ministering because he has asked us to do what he would do. We spent the day contacting and running errands. Then we met with the sunday school president from our ward. He is trying something new and wants us to be part of it. Every Tuesday and Thursday they are going to meet with a less active and they want the missionaries to tag along. So I am really excited about it, we hope it works out well.

Wednesday we heart attacked a girls house whose birthday was the other day. Super fun. Then we went to set up our booth at MiraCosta College. We do it every Wednesday until the end of May and will start it back up again after summer. I am super excited about it. Contacting people is so awkward but I love it because we get to talk to tons of people I never would have met. I love people and we talk to a lot of them so, gotta love it.

Thursday we had Zone Conference which was so good. I love Zone Conference. We had a learning time, family history time and then they taught us stretches and stuff so we won’t injure ourselves. Then we had something like TRCs like we did in the MTC. People came in and pretended to be investigators, I taught some really cool people. We talked about bold invitations and how to be bold with love. I wrote in my journal with little music notes, “All you need is love.” We have authority from God to be bold and make them promises. But Love, love makes a big difference.

I studied Come Come Ye Saints, I love it! Goodnes, Happy day! I feel so redundant like how many times do I have to say I love what I do. I love this gospel. I am so in love with every bit of this, the good and the bad.

Friday, we sat in the sun and did weekly planning. I have the best missionary tan line ever. We made a bunch of calls and went out and worked. We walked up to a man and started talking about the Book of Mormon. He was like “forget the book, look how beautiful you are.”  We walked up to a biker gang, leather jackets and leather pants the whole shebang. One guy said “you are LDS missionaries right” and he turned and walked away. They weren’t interested in the Book of Mormon but wanted to give us rides on their motorcycles. We meet a lot of interesting people. I now have a gang of biker friends. It is great. I probably shouldn’t have walked up to them but you know what, everyone needs God.

Saturday morning we went and did service with our zone. I love service, I love it! Honestly it is the best. I love manual labor which is what we were doing. We were just chopping weeds and hacking at them and making piles and bringing them down. We did that for a couple of hours which was awesome! We came home and got ready and went out to work. On our way to someone’s house we saw a snake in the road so we stopped and I picked him up and put him in the field and saved him. Then I went and washed my hands because that is gross. A less active older lady from another ward called us so we went to talk to her for a bit. She told us we were sent from God and we helped heal her and we brought the feeling of sun in her chest. She was fun.

Sunday, I love Sundays. I studied Our Mountain Home so Dear and I love it. It made me think of Alpine. It made me miss my mountains. They have “mountains” but they are actually hills. But I have the ocean, so...

Our mountain home so dear,

Where crystal waters clear

Flow ever free,

While thru the valleys wide

The flow'rs on ev'ry side,

Blooming in stately pride,

Are fair to see.

2. We'll roam the verdant hills

And by the sparkling rills

Pluck the wildflow'rs;

The fragrance on the air,

The landscape bright and fair,

And sunshine ev'rywhere

Make pleasant hours.

3. In sylvan depth and shade,

In forest and in glade,

Where-e'er we pass,

The hand of God we see

In leaf and bud and tree,

Or bird or humming bee,

Or blade of grass.

4. The streamlet, flow'r, and sod

Bespeak the works of God;

And all combine,

With most transporting grace,

His handiwork to trace,

Thru nature's smiling face,

In art divine.

We then had church, I love church. In RS we talked about following up with people after we they give them something to do. So our missionary program is doing well. After church we went out and worked. We find a lot of people, referrals for other missionaries but you gotta love it!

This morning we woke up early and we went to oceanside harbor where all the boats are and also SEA LIONS! We went to see the big fat blubby things laying on the dock swim around and bark. It was just fun! They were just so cute, but not. That was so much fun!

That’s my week! Just Jazzy Man! We get to go to the temple tomorrow woohoo! I am oh so excited!

I hope you all have a great week too. I am loving life! You guys are the best!

Love,

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@myldsmail.net

Best Day Ever!

Oh, my goodness! We are oh so blessed! It is me and I am so happy!

Wow, ok, so last Pday (I am sorry I didn’t email anyone back, we went bowling for our zone leader’s bday) we also played volleyball and basketball. Then we took cookies to our eternal investigator Caroline to wish her happy birthday. She wasn’t there but texted us back later and said thanks. We love her. Then we worked and contacted and talked to a whole bunch of people.

Tuesday, we had district meeting. I was in charge of the discussion, it was on diligence. It is always fun, I love to learn from the elders and sisters around me. Then we went out and worked. We have a competition going with our zone - we count up how many people give us water bottles and how many houses we knock on with red cars in the driveway (last week we counted people who honked at us and gave us facebook likes).  So we tracted, which we hardly ever do. It was super fun and we got to talk to a whole bunch of really cool people. We talked to a lady and gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet. She was so sweet and interested in us because of our focus on family.

Wednesday, I studied the hymn We Ever Pray for Thee,  the verse it leads us to is D&C 107:22 and talks about how the prophet is upheld by the confidence and faith of the church. Tender mercy (Grandma Vickie) that I have been going through the hymns and happen to be on the ones about the prophet just as we sustain a new prophet. So that is a good reminder because we just had conference and it was a good reminder of what we are supposed to do for our prophet. We are supposed to pray for him and sustain him. We had to take our car to the Toyota dealership because they had to do a software upgrade thing. While it was there we walked around a lot and we realized it was spring break in Utah and a lot of Utah was in California. We were honked at and waved at a bunch. It was all from people in minivans with Utah license plates and the would come up and talk to us in restaurants and stuff so we felt like celebrities. We went out and worked and spoke a lot of broken Spanish - I wish I paid more attention to Spanish in school. We passed out a lot of Books of Mormon.

Thursday we went to our second trainer follow up meeting so I got to see some of my MTC family. We talked a lot small and simple things and did some role plays, awkward. Then we did a lot more contacting and we were about to leave the area but saw a red car in a driveway so we knocked one more door. We asked the guy who answered if he was religious and he said “yes I am a preacher.” We did not want to bash with him, that is no fun so I immediately jumped into love and similarities in our love for God. Instead of contention and driving away the spirit our conversation was full of love and mutual respect. He was Polynesian and noticed my necklace which he thought was super cool. I thanked him for our uplifting conversation. He made me happy and I gave him a pass along card and a Happi pin because he is a child of God and I am a child of God, we are siblings, it’s cool.

Friday, after our morning routine. The sun, I love the beautiful sun. We sat outside for weekly planning so I have the best missionary tan line and my cheeks our pink so it makes me happy. Then we went and worked. We met so many amazing people. There are little mini libraries along the side of the road (take a book and leave a book type of thing) so we started leaving the Book of Mormon in the little mini libraries. We will go back in a week and check to see if anyone has taken them. That night I went on exchanges with Sister Willhemson our awesome new STL in her area.

Saturday morning after our run I studied Joseph Smith’s First Prayer, at the top I wrote “Truth.” That is what we teach, it is just so beautiful. Anytime we hear or read about the first vision and Joseph Smith’s experience with Heavenly Father you can just feel the spirit so strongly. We taught a member lesson with a girl named Amanda who is in the Torrey Pines YSA and then went out and worked. We walked on the sidewalk by moonlight beach and talked to a bunch of people and chatted with some members. Then we went and helped the hermanas clean their church. I just really can’t speak Spanish but I tried. Hermana Willhemson just laughed at me. Guess what I got to do … We didn’t have a dinner appointment so she texted my Aunt Patty and said, “Sister Birchall, we don’t have a dinner appointment tonight, sorry it is last minute but can we come over?” I got to go eat dinner with my Aunt Patty, Uncle Nate and my cousins Josh, Myka, Luke and Adria!!! I got to eat dinner with my family!!! (perfectly allowed I promise) It was awesome, I loved it. It was so much fun catching up them and with Josh since it has been two years since I have seen him. It was so fun to sit down and talk to them, we gave them and message and talked about the gospel. I learned from them so much, they are amazing!It really was special. They are so great! It really made me very happy. I love ‘em. They sent us on our way with gift bags and ice cream bars and chocolates. How cool is that??? Best Day EVER!!!

Fast Sunday, oh, what a beautiful day. I love fasting. I feel much more the importance of fasting now. By fasting we show God we are willing to act. I love the blessings we receive from it. I loved to study the scripture John 10:27 my Uncle Nate shared with me along with their ward mission plan. “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.” I love that and I love how much my Uncle Nate loves it. It obviously means a lot to him. I love that there are people who when they hear the gospel they know it is true. Then we were able to go to fast and testimony meeting. I love hearing the testimonies of our members. I draw so much strength from them. As I told you before, we take the first 10 minutes of relief society and help them become better member missionaries. We gave each of them a copy of the Book of Mormon to pass out and role played with them and challenged them to share their Book of Mormon with someone else. Many of them took another one and some of the Elders came to find us and take a Book of Mormon to them. After church we walked around a little and marched up to a door and knocked and found out they were members, they invited us in and gave us a water bottle and we gave them a message. It was awesome to get invited into a home even though they were members, we don’t get invited in too much.

That was my week. I love this! I love this gospel it just makes me so happy! I love you all and I know how much Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you. Have a great week!

Love you all,

Sister Dalley

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I Love the Gospel, I Love His Plan

Hello, what’s good family and friends?

Last Monday, the 26th of March, a beautiful day … guess who is done with their first transfer!!! We did laundry and stuff. There is this lady, she is one of our neighbors, we walk in and she is just like, “Sisters I changed your laundry for you.” We asked her how much we owed her and she just said to not worry about it. When we returned later our laundry was all folded. She is such a blessing to us, a sweet tender mercy for us. We wrote in transfer journals and had a good time. Sister Richey went home (cry face).

We went to FHE in Encinitas and listened to a former mission president and temple president and his wife. They were awesome and had turquoise rings so it reminded me of my Grandpa.

Tuesday I was sick and confined to my bed. I had to sleep and get better. All I wanted to do is work and Sister Henrie wouldn’t let me. I hated to be stuck inside.

Wednesday I studied “The Gift of Grace” by President Uchtdorf (April 2015) it is so good. It is a beautiful talk. That day was beautiful because I loved not being cooped up. I loved working and bringing people to Christ. Our theme for this transfer is Joy!  I am so excited because it is the theme for my mission. We played missionary tag revised so elders and sisters could play together to get to know our new zone. Then we did a bunch of contacting.

Thursday I studied The Voice of God Again is Heard Part of it says, “Oh messengers of truth go forth proclaim the gospel story” that’s me :) “the nations to prepare to greet the king of glory.” The scripture it has with it is the one I talked about was D&C 128:19 which I talked about before but it also referred to D&C 128:23 which I had not read yet but it says,

“Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers!”

Wowza! How could we not be joyful?

We walked from the Mesa building to a PI which was a 3.3 mile walk but because we are missionaries we talked to everyone on our way. We shared water with a guy who looked homeless and dehydrated and met a member named Grace who called us in her house to eat banana bread and she gave us water bottles. We got to the house and the PI wasn’t interested so we started our walk back. We got back to our car and were so excited for AC and to drive home but it wouldn’t start. We had to call the zone leaders to save us. We sat on the curb and ate banana bread while we waited. We were sore and tired and had blisters but we were happy.

Happy Birthday to my sassy little sister Cami! Love you!

I studied on Thursday We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet. This song is a prayer. I like the word bask - bask in His life giving light. It took me to Mosiah 2:41

“And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.”

I love it! We are blessed and happy!

We went to Carlsbad Village to contact. We walked by the Macdonald’s condo and I was like hey I know this place. We got some free garlic bread and tried to contact at Carlsbad Village. There are cool murals all over and really stubborn people that won’t let you talk to them and really nice people who will let you take their pictures for them.

Saturday was conference WOW I loved it. I loved it so much! I could just fill the rest of my message with conference and all the amazing talks. Man alive, I loved it! Our car wouldn’t start  in the morning again so we ran halfway to the building and then some other sisters picked us up. We got to stand and sustain President Nelson and his counselors and the apostles. I loved it.

A member brought fresh beautiful juicy oranges for the missionaries between sessions. After the second session the Elders helped us get our car to a service shop. Now it is fully functioning and great.

Sunday - Easter - Conference - April Fools Day we did another breakfast with our zone. We had an awesome experience listening to the leaders of our church. Austin was supposed to come ... he didn’t but the information we got was awesome!

For lunch we ate with a bilingual ward. Sister Dalley speaking spanish … sigh. A sweet older lady kept trying to tell me I should be married instead of on a mission. She tried to set me up with her grandson. I kept saying, Hermana, you are a stinker. I am on a mission until next August. Oh, how I love her.

After the wonderful last session of conference (Oh, how I love conference, oh, how I love the prophet, the church is true) we went to Easter Dinner at Bishop and Sister Miller’s house. They are awesome. They had friends and family and grandkids over so we watched them do their little easter egg hunt and they showed us their little treats and toys. It was great. It was a good day.

I love the gospel. I love His plan. I love being a missionary. I love you all so much! Happy Easter, happy April fools day, Happy conference. Happiness. Heavenly Father loves you too. Have a great week!