Leaving My Ocean

Hello my people,

How are you doing today? It is so good to hear from you and to be talking with you.

M - District movie morning. We watched The Best Two Years together. Don’t worry, it is all approved, promise. We then went to a park and climbed trees and played 9 square and kickball together. Super fun! Super party! We did all our washing and shopping and then had FHE which was volleyball.

T - My sixth month mark as a missionary! What the heck? Can you believe it? Six super short months! Craziness! It has been the shortest six months of my life, but the most meaningful. I have grown so much. I absolutely all I have learned and everything I get to be a part of. I feel like someone is fast forwarding my time out here. During studies, I studied the hymn God is Love.

The scripture it referenced is 1 John 4:7-8

7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

I love it because it is literally missionary work. You can do all this stuff as a missionary but if you don’t love the people you work with or your companion it is not worth anything. Literally we teach about Jesus Christ and He taught love.

Another one it referenced is

Moses 6:63

63 And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me.

I loved that. You all know how much I absolutely love this earth and all the wonderful creations. I know all things bear record of him.

District Council - We learned about personal revelation and how to use it in our planning because he knows all his children and when they are going to be home and what they need to hear to accept the gospel. It will help us have more effective days. We are having all these amazing meetings and doing all these amazing things. What other group of people our age do that kind of thing? I am impressed with missionaries. Missionaries are amazing. We all went to Cessy’s for lunch.

We went to the church with Shayna, one of our members. We picked up Tiffany and brought her to the church and talked to her more about the priesthood. We asked her how she felt and she said, “I can’t describe it but that is what I have been praying for the last sixth months.” She said she doesn't feel like she has truly repented but we were able to comfort her with scriptures and love.

Tiffany

W - What a day! We went and then went tracting. We hardly ever tract because our area is everyone else’s area. It was super good, we were able to see some success from it. We went to dinner with Ethan. He is so cool. He is a less active member who is working on coming back. He asked us to help him with that. We went to a lesson with Taylor and Ashley. They are everywhere. They asked us so many questions about polygamy, about gays in the church, the temple, the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, apostles, prophets and disciples. We read the intro of the Book of Mormon with them and they felt like they learned a lot from it.

Th - I studied a hymn that has the lines, “God is our sun he makes our day. God is our shield he guards our way.” I absolutely love how that is worded. Thursday was fun. We went in the mission van with all the trainees and trainers. We got in the mission van and went to the mormon battalion. When we got to San Diego we went to the tequila factory where we had lunch. It is still funny to me that president takes the missionaries to the tequila factory. We went to the Mormon Battalion where I got to see sister Emma Austin. She is doing amazing. She is just glowing. I love the Mormon Battalion. The history and spiritual aspect of it.

President pulled aside sister Miles and she will be training here in a trio. The trainee is going to the Philippines, she is waiting for her visa. I am so excited for her but that means we are no longer together as companions.

F - I love this verse in 1 Nephi 11:17 it says,

I know God loves us and has a plan for all of us. We are supposed to live by his commandments and we will be blessed. I know these things, but I don’t know everything but that is ok.

We went to Shayna’s house and made boutonnieres and corsages for her wedding. We had a lesson with Tiffany to find out where she is in believing, if she has asked and if she has received an answer. She said she started at 30% and now is at like 80% believing. Yay for Tiffany. She is doing so good.

S - We had transfer calls. I am going somewhere else. Yep that is right, sister Dalley is leaving her home of her whole mission. I am going up to Temecula. I will be on a bike full time in a family ward. I am so sad to be leaving but I am super excited to see how everything goes. There is no ocean up there. This (Oceanside and Carlsbad) is my home but I am excited to meet them and work with them and have the same love for them as I have had here.

We went to work the rest of the day. I love working.

Su -  I studied the hymn The Lord is My Light. I love this hymn. The scripture reference is Psalms 27:1 which says, “27 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”  I love that I was reading a talk. One of the points is I Fear No Man - Whom shall I fear? As a disciple of Christ I am here on his errand and I fear no man, what they say or their criticism against me means nothing.

It was so great! I loved that day! We went to the church and met Tiffany and the Gundersons and we drove down to the regional YSA conference in San Diego. You heard me right Tiffany came to church. Every talk was just for Tiffany. We stayed after for the Munch and Mingle and she met and talked with a bunch of our members. We showed Tiffany the temple on our way home and she loved it. I had to tell her I was leaving when we dropped her off. Tiffany is not a touchy person but she gave me a hug. It made me so happy. I am so sad to leave but I am so happy that I was part of her journey.

I packed while sister Miles sang with her beautiful voice, “God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again.” We went to the church and said goodbye some elders that were going home and to Will who just kept saying “I want to hug you.” I love all these people, they are my best friends and I am going to miss them so much.

Will

I love you all so so much!

Baby Jane - tell her Aunty Jo loves her so much! Send more pictures. Hi to Dani and Jace and their kids!

Love you tons!

Teaching and Serving in Carlsbad

Hello Humans of the world (or those who actually read this),

M- Pday - Sister Miles and I were in charge of our activity so we played minute to win it games at the church - one where we wore these lovely shower caps, so great, I loved it!

Transfers are on the 31st we find out whether we are staying or leaving on the 28th. We had lunch with some of the sisters that will be headed home.

T - District council - we learned how to teach lesson 5. We picked up our new MSF cards and I had to fill out an accident report YAY! I was backing out of the garage and have to make a really sharp turn and turned a little too sharp. I scratched the mission vehicle. Only me, lets be real, so that was fun … We had a lesson with Tiffany. She had a bunch of questions. She took her Book of Mormon to her baptist church and defended the mormons to her baptist preacher. The preacher tried to tell her things we believe and she corrected him.

W - We were able to serve Shannon who had an accident that hurt her back. We cleaned her house and her fridge and did months worth of laundry. It was so fun to help her. She has two kids and she sees her life as a miracle because she used to live in her car. She testifies she sees God in every part of her life.

This was my momma’s birthday, Happy Birthday! I love you so much. I got all the pictures of you going to Silver Lake. That looks like a blast! That is such a “you” thing to want to do. I hope someone spoiled you because you deserve it.

Th - I studied the hymn How Great Thou Art. Every single part makes me so happy. This is such a “me” hymn. I go throughout the day and I am just like “ah look at the stars, God is amazing” or “look at the ocean, God loves us.” When it talks about wandering through forests and trees and looking down from mountains it is so powerful. God and Jesus Christ loves us so much!

One of our members was hit by a car so we went to visit her and gave her a  succulent. It made her so happy. She is the sweetest. Truly it is a miracle she does not have anything broken just some bumps and bruises and a concussion. The driver hit her in a crosswalk while texting. It is a miracle she is not more hurt.

We had another lesson with Tiffany and talked to her about the priesthood and the power and the authority to baptize. She took it really well. She loved the thought of it. She sees it as a gift from god. We invited her to receive a blessing so she will be having a blessing on Tuesday. She says she has been happier since the elders stopped her. She said she promised God she would read a chapter from the Book of Mormon and a chapter from the Bible every day. She says she wrote a prayer of gratitude in her journal and can feel her faith growing. We love her. She is doing so good.

F - We met with Jasmine who is one of our less active members. She had a social conversion instead of a spiritual conversion so we are trying to help her through that. We helped Shannon again with her shopping and held her bearded dragon.

S - We went on base for the Mom’s food drive. It was awesome. It was so cool to help people and put things in their basket. We went and did more service by helping someone move. It was super fun! Always fun!

We went to work. We stopped by different people with interest homes. Nobody answered. Then we went to the pioneer day picnic and I made little centerpieces with sunflowers. It was a calming destressor. We got to take them home so I put them in our window.

S- Church - church is always awesome! We had dinner with one of our members, Anaid, and she brought her boyfriend. She led the conversation and discussion of the questions he had and what she wanted us to teach him. He took a  copy of the Book of Mormon and hopefully will continue to meet with the Elders.

Thank you all for your prayers for Sister Miles. It means a lot when we hear you have been praying and fasting for her. She is doing much better.

That is our week. We had a fantastic week. I hope you all had a fantastic week. I am so in love with life!

You guys are just the best. Thank you for everything you do for me and everything you do for sister Miles. The gospel is joy!

Love you love you,

Bye!

Blessings During a Hard Week

Hello everybody! Good morning!
M - Pday, we went to the pier with a sister who went home. We helped her pack and President and Sister Thomas came to pick her up. We went to Cessy’s for lunch and went bowling. I didn’t do too bad. Our MSF card info was stolen so they had to order new cards and cancel our old ones. So that is fun. We did the usual shopping email and laundry and then FHE. While I was there, my phone just started blowing up and I looked and it was Baby Jane! I love that girl already! Sadee congratulations! I am so excited she is here. You have to tell her, Aunty Jo loves her and will be the favorite even though there are a lot of aunties there.

I was filled in on a lot of information on Sunday and Monday. I found out that Cole passed away  and that was hard. I love that kid so much he is amazing. I found out my daddy is looking for different work. We had a sister go home because she was sick. Sister Miles is sick. So, I asked for a blessing from Elder Jordan. He is one of the APs. He gave me a sweet blessing. It was much needed. I hope all is going well. I am praying all of you back home. I am praying for Cole’s family, for my daddy, for sweet new baby Jane and for new mama Sadee and new daddy Taylor.

T - We woke up exercised and went to district council. My dear sweet companion sister Miles is sicky. All the days this week were slightly the same. She went to sleep after district meeting and I spent the day studied and cleaned and baked and studied some more.

W - We had president interviews. My goal is to use the scriptures in everything possible. President is the best. He gave me scriptures for Cole - Alma 40:11-12. It was so good and I felt so at peace. We talked about my dad’s work and the stress of the expense of being out here. I was kind of feeling bad about that. He was like - ok I got you sister Dalley. He guided me to the scriptures which is always the best place to go. D&C 118:3 and to Matthew 19:29 he told me to I will be blessed through this hard time and to never forget how much God loves me. I love President Thomas, he is the best.

I have a good friend, Julie, who says the scriptures always say “It came to pass,” they never say, “and it came to stay.”  Hard days, hard weeks and hard months always end. It was another day as a missionary so I was still happy.

We came home and sister Miles slept. The mission nurse checked in with her. We had a lesson planned for that day so we went on an exchange so we did not need to cancel. Sister Langton came with me to the lesson with Tiffany and Tiffany ended up bringing her sister. We met with them and talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon. We read over the introduction with them and committed them to read it. It was really cool because her sister actually started reading it while we were still talking. While she read she was saying things like “Oh my goodness, this has the same purpose of the Bible” and “Oh, my goodness it helps us come close to Jesus Christ.”  We actually picked her up as a person we are teaching. It was such a blessing.

Th - Sister Miles was still sick so we stayed inside all day. After a long day we went dinner with the Sweetwoods and then to the church for sports night with the ward and other missionaries.  I played sports but she sat, which was so sad.

F - We went to the doctor’s office in the morning and then went to the church to weekly plan. The elders gave me a succulent plant and I kept it with me the rest of the day. It is my new pet plant. We went back home and I cleaned the whole apartment again while Sister Miles slept. So, she doesn’t sleep during the night so her body is shutting down on her. She only gets 2 to 4 hours of sleep each night. She walks across the room and gets winded. She has heart palpitations and gets super exhausted and then lays down but cannot sleep. We went to urgent care at 9 pm. It was in La Jolla which was out of our mission which was weird because it was so late. We were there forever and got home around 1 am. Pray for Sister Miles.

S - We woke up and then went to do service and then came home and got ready and went to Lunch at Brennan’s. He made waffles, breakfast for lunch. Yumy! Sister Miles was tired again so we came home.

Su - We went to church, I love church! After church, we went by some people with interest. We stopped by a girl, Taylor. Now she and her friend are now people being taught.

This week was awesome, we picked up three new people being taught. I hate being inside. But, we have been working hard for a long time and I have been in this area for a long time. We weren’t able to go out much but when we did go out we got blessed. It has been a hard week but a good week. Heavenly Father has blessed us. We are currently teaching five people which is so great.

It is awesome. I love contacting and talking to random people.I am so in love with being a missionary. I absolutely love sitting down with someone and sharing this gospel and hearing what they are feeling and listening to what they believe and seeing their testimonies grow and strengthen and see them come closer to Jesus Christ. I am loving the opportunity to see past the initial first contact. I love It is the best.

I am so happy out here. I absolutely love being out here. I also hope you know how hard it is. I am living in paradise but it is not paradise all the time.

I love all of you so so much! I love the support I get from home. Thank you for all you do for me. Love baby Jane for me. I am loving her from here but squeeze her extra tight for me. Today is going to be fun, we are going to teach a lesson.

I hope you have an amazing week.

Love you love you, bye.

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@myldsmail.net

sisterjosiedalley.blogspot.com

Miracles, New People with Interest and a Foot From Death

Hello Everybody,

Miss me?

M - Happy Birthday to Grace Carter July 1st. Grace I miss you and I love  you. Pday - We went to Lowe’s got plants for one of our members whose grandpa is in the hospital and for our cute window and we are now proud plant parents.

We played bunker ball at the church (like dodgeball but with tennis balls and you can hide behind tables etc). We emailed and shopped and took care of our car. We had community pizza dinner with the sisters and then delivered our plant to Andi (incognito).

T - We had zone conference and it was so good. We always have such a blast at zone conference and learn so much. We got to see how much president truly loves us. We got to  hear so many testimonies and lessons and musical numbers. We got to hear the dying testimonies of two elders (Eddins and Jordan) who were my first APs and I ward shared with right when I came out. We also wrote letters to ourselves for when we are done. July 3rd is Oceanside’s birthday so they do fireworks then so that was fun!

W - July 4th! Happy Independence day and Happy Birthday to Kimi! Love you sista, miss you, so excited for your mission call! Now you are 19 and can go on your mission!! I have been reading a talk called “The Miracle of the Mission” given by Elder Holland. It is an MTC talk given Oct 28, 2000. It is so good. If you have an opportunity to read it please do so. We did work and went by many PWIs homes (person with interest). One of the dad’s told us his daughter was not interested but we had a great talk with him. Because we had to be off the streets by 5 we went with our zone and had a bbq and played volleyball and signs.  So much fun! Then we went on Exchanges.

Th - On exchanges we spent the day contacting and going by PWIs homes and making appointments.

F - The day of Miracles! Holy Cow. For studies, I have been doing a Preach My Gospel compare. I sit with my paper copy on my desk and the digital copy pulled up on my phone. I read a sentence from each and highlight the changes. All throughout it, even starting with the first presidency letter there are subtle changes all throughout it. In the introduction it now says, “Preach my Gospel is as much for church members as it is for th full time missionaries of the church.” So I want to invite, ha ha that is a missionary thing, you to study it. We are promised so many things, if we share this gospel we will see miracles and I am excited for  those miracles we are going to see. Sadly Alexis, our new person with interest cancelled on us, hopefully we will be meeting with her soon. As we were waiting at the church for her, Elder Meyer and Hubbard form Oceanside 1st, called us and said “hey sisters we have a person for you, we want to do a pass off lesson today at 5.” We were like YAY! Miracle 1 of many. While at the church we did weekly planning while making zucchini bread for Elders Shumway and Hall, a special birthday request from them. We met the Elders and Tiffany from Jamaica, she is so cool, all four of us taught her the plan of salvation. While we were waiting for them to arrive we got another call from some other elders with two more people with interest. So yay! That is FOUR! In all the time I have been here these are my first true people to teach so pray for them! Miracle day!!!

S - Another beautiful day in paradise. We took our car to have the AC fixed in our car. After 5 minutes he came out and said it was fixed. We were like what??? That was so fast!  He was like actually you just need to push this little button that says AC ha ha ha!! We did more contacting and operation find so and so all day! It was a beautiful day!

Su - My daddy’s birthday!!! Happy birthday!!! I love you oh so much and am so happy you are my dad. At ward correlation I gave the spiritual and used Helaman 13:3-5 where it says what we should say will be put in our hearts and then I used the preach my gospel part that says it is for all members. We are told to share this gospel and we are promised what we should say will be put in our hearts and that is where our love is so we should share this gospel with love. Tiffany didn’t come :/ but promised she will come next week. We had munch and mingle after church. We went and did work and then ate dinner with Samuel and the Elders. Sadly one of our sisters is going home so we helped her pack and cried with her. Hopefully she will be able to get the help she needs.

It has been an emotional couple of days. I am very sad to hear about Cole’s accident. He is My buddy. I miss Cole. I have very grateful for Heavenly Father’s plan for us.  My heart reaches out to his wonderful family and our swim family. I send my love from here in California to everyone who is affected by that. I know that Cole is being watched out for.

Also, Congratulations to my sister Sadee who is about to have a baby! I am excited to be the favorite Aunty!

Give everyone a big hug from me! Hug Cole’s family. Hug Sadee and baby Jane. Tell her I am excited to see her in a year.

Thank you for all you do!

Love you, love you, bye!

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@myldsmail.net

Sisterjosiedalley.blogspot.com

From a week earlier:

M - We met our zone on the pier early. After doing our pday stuff we played kickball and volleyball with the zone. Then we did service with some other sisters and helped a family move.

T - District meeting where I gave the discussion. Then another meeting training follow up meeting. The church has gotten rid of 12 weeks, a new study program that takes 12 weeks but is not “12 Weeks” replaced it. After 5 hours of meetings we went to work. No longer are our investigators called investigators they are people with interest or people we are teaching.

W - We went to work  contacting, wait our mission calls that connecting now. We ate dinner with the Packard’s and they gave us huge  steaks - I kind of died. We met with Jasmine a less active member in our ward. We did NOT 12 weeks, it is so good.

Th - Andi went out to work with us, we went to different people with interest’s houses, tracting and contacting, it was super fun to be with her.  I love it when we share the gospel. Gospel is JOY! I love it! We then went back out to work and then ate dinner with Sister Rowe. She is so sweet and is so much fun. We went to sports night with our ward. I love it. Working hard and having fun!

F- I woke up feeling not well and had to stay in for a bit. I had enough of that and went to the elders to get a blessing. We went to work and it was a day of miracles. My stomach pains went away while we were working. Blessings are of God. That was Miracle number 1. Miracle number two was a super scary incident! We parked and got out of the car. I was on the street side. We heard screeching wheels and brakes. This car comes flying around the corner swerving super bad, totally a drunk driver. I stood up stared out the car and froze. Sister Miles started screaming move! Move! Move! I could not move. I watched the car swerve out away and then right back toward me. The nose of the car was like a foot away when he swerved away from me. Sister miles says I was a foot away from death. It was a scary moment! I have never felt that way and we were really shaken the rest of the day.

After that we felt like we needed to go contacting at the pier. We saw a girl sitting on a bench so we approached her. We asked her if she would like a book of Mormon. She showed us a CTR ring on her hand and said, “obviously I am a fan.” She was not a member but had taken the discussions and had read part of the Book of Mormon. We talked to her a while and gave her a book and set up an appointment. She said this is something she really wants to do and would love our support and friendship. We passed by her a little later and saw her with the Book of Mormon open reading it. Miracle Number 3.

Even though it started off bad, God always blesses us when we put forth effort.

S- We did seven hours of service on Base. We also deeped cleaned another person’s house who was moving. Service is the best! I love service. It is also fun to get out of a skirt now and then.

We went to correlation with the Elders and were talking about how I have been out for like 6 months and have never taught anyone. Elder Burbank, one of the APs pulled out Alma 29:1-3 which is awesome and it says,

“1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

3 But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.”

I looked up the word “allotted” and allotted means given  so from that I looked up Alma 26:22

“22 Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance.”

So with that, I really liked it, I should be content with the things the Lord hath given me. Success or what missionaries view as success is not owed to us. The Lord doesn’t need missionaries but he gives us opportunities to help others come unto Christ and while we are doing that we come unto Christ. He may not see fit to give us this success right now. It is all about the Lord’s timing. We just continue teaching people and working hard.

Su- Fast and testimony was awesome. We had break the fast which was awesome. YSAs are the best. I love church! We went to work - to try and visit people all day.

We had a blast!

Love you, love you, bye!

Sister Dalley