Will's Baptism and Cookies Galore!

Hello Everybody, Sister Dalley here.

Monday after the pier, we played frisbee and volleyball for pday and did our other pday stuff. We tried to visit some of our should be YSAs and then played human hungry hungry hippos for FHE. It was so funny. Our should be YSAs had a blast.

Tuesday, we had donuts and orange juice at district meeting, I love my district, we practiced teaching to the needs of an “investigator”. It was really cool to see, even though it was not a real investigator, we were able to teach and testify and feel the spirit. We went on midday exchanges and I went to the Del Mar area with Hermana Wilhelmsen, so I was Hermana Dalley for the day. We did a lot of Spanish work that day, we tried a couple of people all in Spanish. They knew I could not understand most of what they were saying but I was able to follow. It would take me a minute to figure out what they asked and then a minute to formulate an answer but it was so fun. Dad why didn’t you teach me more Spanish? Instead of walking away discouraged I walked away with a desire to know more Spanish.

We took an investigator to play beach volleyball with the ward. As we were walking away a cute girl came up and said “Hey sisters,” and asked us to join their bbq on the beach. She was excitedly waiting for her mission call. As we were about to leave, my cousin Josh came to the party and I was able to talk to him and my cousin Jenna who just received her mission call. I am so excited for Jenna!

That night sister Wilhelmsen taught me to pray in spanish. It is my favorite thing ever. It was the best. It was a good day and so much fun for me!

Wednesday, I read in Mosiah 18 about Abinadi who did not see the 450 people baptized or Alma come to know. He and Alma both followed God and His commandments. They both taught and loved. Everything is in God’s timing.

After studies, we went to service at an investigator named Tara’s house. She is so sweet. We pulled up trees and planted them in other places and moved pebbles. While we were helping she talked to us about balance and nature. Thanks dad for teaching me about landscaping, I definitely needed it.

We exchanged back and Sister Miles and I went to our first trainer follow up meeting which was awesome. We ate dinner with the Sweetwoods who I love. Sister Sweetwood said she wants to be my mission grandma. We met with a should be YSA named Andi. We love Andi, she wants to go on a mission so likes to be with us and wants to go on exchanges with us. We love Andi and are praying for her.

We then went contacting at Carlsbad Village where the first people we talked to were mild bash but respectful, the second people we talked to accepted a Book of Mormon, the third people we talked to total bash and this guy was so mean. I do not bash, it drives away the spirit, I walked away and cried for him because he needs God so much.

That night we made cookie dough, a lot of it. We overestimated what we needed but all worked out in the end.

Thursday was fun, we visited some should be YSAs and they came to sports night at the church which was volleyball.

Friday we made the cookies while doing weekly planning and we ended up making 392 cookies. We were trying to thank 13 companionships for helping us with our should be YSAs. Ya we made a little much.

Saturday, we did work and got ready for a baptism for Sunday. We celebrated sister Miles one month in the mission. A member Sam had us for dinner and made veggie lasagna just for me. So nice. We did a lot of should be YSA work and contacting.

Sunday was awesome! I love studies, the scriptures and the hymns. We went to ward council and church. I love church. Church is awesome! Sister Rowe gave gardenias to all the girls. They are gorgeous and smell so good.

We had Will’s baptism after church. I don’t know if I told you Will’s story … Will lived in Texas and is a pro skater who grew up with a bunch of mormon friends who brought him to church and introduced him to the gospel. I don’t know them but I am so proud of them. They all went on missions and Will moved here to Carlsbad to skate. The Sunday after he moved here he decided he still wanted to go to church so he googled YSA LDS churches near me. He walked into church and introduced himself to us and the Elders and we all thought he was a member. Later he was talking to an older member of our ward (a teacher), Brother Packard. He asked Will if he had served a mission and Will said, “no.” Elder Packard asked him if he was considering one. Will answered, “Well maybe, I think it would be a cool thing to do.” Elder Packard asked what was holding him back from being serving a mission and Will answered that he probably needed to be baptized first. :) He was just golden and elect.

The baptism was beautiful. I was asked to give the talk on baptism and Sister Miles played the piano. We both were asked to share our testimonies while they changed back into dry clothes. It was just so fun to be a part of his experience even though we didn’t teach him, we love him so much! We used the extra cookies for Will’s baptism and everyone loved them. God had a plan all along!

Afterwards we went to dinner again with Brennan’s family. They love us. One of his little sisters drew us a sweet little picture. Brennan’s grandma also loves us which is good because she is not a member and she usually doesn’t love the missionaries.

I love you and appreciate you. Thank you for everything you do for me. I know God loves you so so much. Have a happy fun filled week and summer! Love you, love you, Bye!

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@myldsmail.net

YSA and more JOY!

Hello all my favorite people

(or at least some of them because I have a lot of favorites out here too),

Last Monday after emailing we went to a park with the whole zone and went ice blocking. We also played ultimate frisbee and wiffle ball and volleyball and soccer. One of our members Brennan came and hung out with us. We went to our lesson with Melissa who bailed again. :/

We went to FHE which was a memorial day barbeque with Vista and it was such fun. We were driving home and had like fifteen minutes left on the clock so we went to contact. Talking to people about God.

Tuesday, a beautiful day - I don’t think I can say that enough, or how much I absolutely love being a missionary, or how much l love talking to people about God, or how much love and happiness I feel because of what I do, I don’t know, I don’t think I can say any of that enough! We started out like any other day with exercise and planning. We went to district meeting, love district meeting, love my people! We walked to the ocean. We stopped to talk to a couple of guys who were talking about old cars. We went everywhere in that conversation. We talked about cars and football and getting old and God and work. It was cool. They are now our friends.

We went to dinner at Katie’s house. We walked in her garden and listened to her sing and play her guitar. I love Katie, she is amazing, it is so fun to see her progression.

Wednesday we had president interviews. I love President. He has taken on that father figure for me and Sister Thomas has become my mother figure. They are so awesome. We celebrated with coldstone because we got our money that day and sister Miles had only nine days until her month mark which would never happen again.

Then we did service for a less active older cat lady, Sylvia. We trimmed her plants and spread mulch and did weeding and sweeping. We got ready again and went contacting everyone was at the ocean, smart people. We went to dinner with a couple of members who gave us food from the farmers market. It was delicious and fresh. We walked toward the church and met a guy along the way. We asked him if we could talk to him about Jesus Christ and he answered “If there is anything you can tell me that I don’t know.” He went into bash mode and the spirit was not entirely there and I wanted it back so we opened up the scriptures. I said, “Can I show you what I believe to be true.” We read him Alma 40:11-12 and bore testimony of the love of God and that Heavenly Father wants us all to come back to him so He provides a way. He stopped and listened. We offered this basher a copy of the Book of Mormon and he accepted it. The spirit and the scriptures change people.  It was a good day.

Thursday we cleaned up the yard of the Relief Society building on base. We did weeding and dug a trench. We went home and got ready and visited a member who should be in YSA but isn’t and invited her and her friends to volleyball that night. We went to work contacting. Working hard, planting seeds, having fun, contacting people, and loving life. We went to sports night and played volleyball. There were a whole bunch of people there and it was really fun. Brother Brooks pulled us aside and gave us a huge assignment.

Friday, Happy June! Brother Brooks gave us a huge packet where we went through a whole list of the should be YSA. We had to go through and mark everyone who has married or moved and then prioritized the rest of the list into those who are active, less active, etc. It was a huge project and seemed like it kept us from the work but it will help us to be able to do our work better.

Saturday, I studied the hymn Songs of Praise which sends us to D&C 25:12 which says I was like  “For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.” This is totally what I think about hymns, they are prayers, they are praises.

We planned what we call operation YSA to try and recruit those who should be coming to this ward to come. We are having three big events, the first one is called “Hello Summer!” which will be a bonfire and volleyball night at the harbor. It is going to be a blast! We made flyers to pass out at seminary graduation and other places to help people know to come to our ward. I love YSA!

Sunday, better yet Fast Sunday, we presented our plan at ward council and what we have been doing for it. They were all impressed with our preparation and drive to do it. Then church, let me tell you I love church! I get asked all the time, “If the gospel is a personal relationship with God, why do we have to go publicly to church?” It is just kind of simple, the sacrament. Yes we go to be spiritually uplifted and edified, yes we love to learn and relearn, I love to feel everyone’s spirit and excitement for the gospel but the sacrament where we repent and renew our covenants. I love it. It is about the sacrament. I love the gospel.

We went to seminary graduation and said “we are not trying to get you married” we passed out tons of flyers. We were so excited about it.

This morning, we woke up at 4:30 and went to the pier. A fisher / chef guy caught a shark so I took a selfie with it.

An asian lady saw us taking pictures with the shark and wanted me to take a picture with her fish. Honesty moment, I did not catch any of these fish.

We are having fun. Thank you for all you do for me. You guys are awesome. I love you all so much! Have a great week! See ya, love ya, bye!

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@myldsmail.net

Another Two Weeks in Paradise

Hello Everybody,

I am sorry for the lack of email last week. We got really busy just doing stuff. So I am going to go through two weeks.

Monday, we went on a hike and then played sports at the church. We went out to work and then went to FHE where i got to play bubble soccer. What! It was so much fun. After FHE we practiced a song for church.

Tuesday, was an awesome day. We did yoga and personal studies and then went to district meeting where we focused a lot on member missionaries. We practiced our song for zone conference again. We then went to work and passed out BOMs and found people for others. We did the little leave a book take a book library but we don’t take books. There was a lady we talked to who started bashing on us so we stopped her and told her that God loves her, we testified of Jesus Christ, wished her a good day and left. We went to dinner with Keith, I love Keith and shared 4 Nephi. Then we went on exchanges.

Wednesday, I was on exchanges with the STLs so I was with Sister Langton. It was a fun day, it was an amazing day. I love sister Langton. We started our day with a morning run to the ocean, I love the ocean, the ocean is beautiful. Then we went out and worked. We went to our booth at Maricosta and set a hefty goal of passing out 10 copies of the Book of Mormon and contacting 100 people. It only counted if we delivered them their agency so we extended an invitation to learn more. We got bashed a couple of times but all we do is bear our testimony and they can’t go against that, right? There is a funny … Elder Jordan and Elder Dalley also came to work the booth with us so we would be like “Hello I am Elder Dalley,” and “Hello, I am Sister Dalley. No, we are not married and no we are not siblings.” We meet so many fun people. Having all four of us just teaching and contacting, ah, Power! We went work some more. We went to dinner with Bro and Sis Gunderson who know my cousin Brooke Trudo which was fun. They were just called that Sunday to YSA work and were jumping right in. They are so great! We shared the Peace in Christ video with a dropped investigator Emily whose dad who had passed away. She got emotional and so did we. We met our goal.

Thursday was a busy day. It was a busy hot day and all sensible people were at the beach, bad for us because there were not many for us to talk to. We practiced our song and went right back out to work. I love working. We do a lot of the same things which doesn’t show up number wish be we are bringing people closer to Christ. We are inviting and helping, fulfilling our purpose.

Friday, we went to the pier and contacted and ran into hippi guys who talked about saving the ocean and turtles. We went and contacted Addie who is a recent convert and wants her friend to come to church and he wants it too. Though the APs will get to teach them, God’s timing right. We made zucchini bread and did weekly planning. We said goodbye to Daniel who is deployed for six months. We wish him the best of luck.

Saturday was weird. We delivered zucchini bread to the sisters and went to practice and then gave some Elder’s zucchini bread and then went to lunch. We grabbed a quick bite from taco bell then tried to go work but we got food poisoning from Taco Bell and were wrecked the whole rest of the day barfing and passing out. We were sick the whole day and into the next morning.

Sunday, we were still getting over food poisoning but went to stake conference anyway and out to work. We found some pretty solid PIs, all guys, and then went to practice singing again.

Monday we were really busy. We did a district lunch and played volleyball. FHE was kickball and we gave the devotional there.

Tuesday, awesomeness and craziness like always. We went and worked hard all day. We went to dinner with Brennan and his nonmember cousin Jordan. We gave her a Book of Mormon and had her read Moroni 10:3-5. She is awesome and we are excited to see where that will go. We had zone conference and learned a lot about faith and finding. Then we sang, it went well. It was a cool experience to prepare and do that.

Wednesday, we went out and worked. We were called by Aubree who asked us to come help her and got service hours. I am going to just tell you this story and you take what you want from it. Aubree lives on base and were talking to our district leader about our numbers while we were driving. Base is super confusing and we got on the freeway going the wrong way which took us 20 minutes out of our area and fifteen minutes OUT OF OUR MISSION! We kind of freaked out and called the ZLs who laughed at us. We called President Thomas, he laughed at us and helped us turn around and said, “Welcome back to the mission!” Note to self, do not put two greenies together. We were only a little late for curfew.

Thursday, we talked for a long time with a hobo on the pier for a long time about the atonement. He was super engaged in the conversation and asked a ton of questions until he suddenly stood up and walked away saying he had no idea what we were talking about. I tripped on a stair and fell flat on my face at an investigators house.  I recovered while Sister Miles laughed her head off. We went by a person who had a fence but opened the gate anyway. A vicious dog came running and we had this standoff. I inched forward and he would growl. I slowly made it to the door and back while he watched me. At least Heavenly Father saw my level of willingness.

That day we had a cool experience. We started out the day with three copies of the Book of Mormon in English and one in Spanish. That is all we had left. We went through the day passing them out, 3 english and 1 spanish. We would get back in the car and another one would be on our seat. This happened three times.  Everytime we got back in the car there was another Book of Mormon. Believe what you want but we saw it as a miracle.

Friday, nothing really happened how we wanted it to. We prepared for a lesson with Melissa but she ended up bailing on us. :( Another day in paradise though.

Saturday we went out and worked. We went by a whole bunch of PIs houses. We talked to Melissa again and set up a lesson for Monday. We went to ward correlation to plan a huge party to welcome people back from college and others to YSA. We need lots to come so we can get more referrals.

Sunday, church was awesome and we went to Brennan’s house again for dinner. His family likes us. It was awesome. We shared a message about Faith and how by faith we can do all things through Jesus Christ. We then went contacting at Carlsbad Village. We talked to a guy named Shaun for a long time about how we see God in everything. It was really refreshing. I gave a spanish couple a Book of Mormon and even though I don’t really know spanish we had a cool conversation. I have no clue what I said or he said but he took a Book of Mormon so that was cool. Gift of tongues is real.

Today we went and set up for a memorial day breakfast. We are going ice blocking today WOOO HOO! Wish us luck, we have a lesson tonight!

I saw sister Henrie and sister Miles got to meet her gma.
Love for all of you! JOY!