Zone Conference

Hello all the people of the world, welcome, this is going to be fun.

M - We went to the Pauba building for  Pday. We emailed, played basketball and ping pong and had a bunch of fun with our mission friends. We went to pizza and then went home. I played mom and sewed a tie and a shirt. I have sewn so many things out here but never anything for myself. I play mom for all the elders. I have sewn so many things buttons, ties, pockets, pants and shirts. I like it, it is therapeutic and helps me become better friends with them.

T - They had us read Divine Love by President Nelson, Converted Unto the Lord and Seek Learning by Faith by Elder Bednar to prepare for our zone conference. They are awesome. They also asked us to prepare a talk that we may or may not give. That day was great, it was kind of a frustrating day, but I was happy anyway because it was another day as a missionary. Our appointments canceled but later we went to dinner with a member then went to the church where we helped some other sisters with their mutual. We taught the kids and then we taught them how to teach it. They are doing a missionary month where they received a call, learn and teach a lesson at a member’s home. I think it is super cool.

W - Zone Conference - I wish I could show you my notes but I took like 20 pages. It was a little different because we weren’t supposed to have zone conference for a little while but Elder Bangerter was here. He will be speaking in general conference on Saturday morning so we are looking forward to that too. We started off by each of us individually shaking his hand and then went into the chapel and we learned - we learned a lot.

Elder Bangerter promised us that if wanted to receive revelation we would and it would change our lives. He walked us through the ministry of the seventy and why he was there. He asked us to set aside two pages and label it revelation received - I wrote 8 pages. He began his talk by turning to us with a huge smile and saying “Now let us open the windows of heaven.”

President and Sister Thomas talked to us about the desires of our hearts. If we persist in doing something, it will be easier to do it - good and bad. They gave us a quote by Elder Maxwell “You and I must take care concerning the education of our desires” for our desires influence our choices. They encouraged us to persist relentlessly in educating your desire to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, not only on your missionary but throughout your life thereby qualifying for the celestial kingdom.

Sister Bangerter talked about living with exact obedience.

Elder Bangerter asked us to write down one thing word for word and promised us if we keep it and and study it we will change our ability. Ever since zone conference this has been my theme in work.

“My setting apart entitles me to expect that God by His spirit goes up the pathway, through the door and into the hearts and minds of the people I meet before I step onto the property.”

I know I can knock on a door confident the spirit is there working on them before I get there. It may not be an immediate effect. He talked about the principle of sevens. It takes about seven contacts with the church for someone accepts the gospel. Each of our contacts move them from a 1 to a 2 or a 4 to a five or we may find someone elect that moves from a 6 to a seven. Every contact we make makes a difference and helps them progress. He said, “Do not have your agenda be above, below or around the spirit” and “everything you do, get them to the Book of Mormon.”

It was amazing. It was beautiful. It was just so good! I wish you were all there. I am just so happy. I just love it! It was fun to see sister Miles and all my mission friends and my bff Sister Sweetwood my mission mom. I love her way too much.

After our amazing learning we had to get flu shots :/

Thursday was awesome. We had so many miracles. We had a goal to place two copies of the Book of Mormon and pick up a new person to teach that day. We left our apartment with no appointments. We started off tracting keeping Elder Bangerter’s promise in mind. We found Dale and taught him right on his doorstep and gave him a Book of Mormon. His mom walked out and said no thank you and goodbye. As soon as she went back in he turned to us and said, “I am available on Wednesdays and Fridays.” We passed out two more copies of the Book of Mormon and were able to meet our goal after an hour of tracting so we had to set a bigger goal.

We ran out of copies of the Book of Mormon to pass out so we went to the bishop’s house where we had the French Valley elders bring us some more and we kept working. We went to the bishop’s house, one of Vida’s sons was there. They are not taking the lessons because Vida wants to be baptized first and then they will. He came up to us and said, “I want to be baptized on Sunday.” We were like whoa, “Brian, we have to teach you first, we have to talk first but yes we will help you get baptized.” He is a little blessing right there. So, now we will teach him with Vida.

Friday - As a new thing with my good friend Nickmo, Elder Nicholas Mortensen, we are studying The Living Christ together. I literally have my dictionary right by my book as I study and write down the definition by every word I don't know. It is amazing! I love that book. I will be studying that for a long time cuz it is a big book but I am learning so much!

We did our weekly planning, went to some appointments and then went to work. At dinner we had a kind bash with a Jehovah’s Witness guy who went off on us and asked questions but didn’t really like the answers we gave him.  We went to Julie’s house and her grandson, Austin was there and he loves sisters. No one has ever taught him but we talked to him about faith, hope and charity. He said the closing prayer and he is 12 years old and so sweet and so pure. We picked him up as a person we are teaching.  

Saturday was awesome, a beautiful day, so many blessings!  We did service for a lady we helped last week. We moved a bunch of stuff and we were there for quite sometime and then she played us a piece on her beautiful grand piano and then took us to lunch. We got cleaned up and then went to Sister Grant’s home. She was so sweet and kind and it was a blessing to be in her home.

Sunday funday! It is God’s day! I love that day. It was the primary program. It was so beautiful and so pure. Vida was there and came to relief society. She is still set for date on Oct 28. Brother Barnson, the WML who is so kind, was there and talking to her about what scriptures she wants. He gives every new convert a set of their own scriptures with their names engraved as a gift. Our little miracle, her son Brian was there and wants it so bad. He came in new clothes that he asked his mom to buy some clothes so he can go to church dressed more appropriately. He used to come in t-shirts and shorts and he came with a button up shirt and a suit jacket and dark jeans. He is so sweet and so pure. He loves it. He loves the gospel and we love him. We were talking about tithing and he pulled out a dollar and said, here I can give this to the church. We hope the rest of the boys will follow.

We went to dinner at the Crisp home. They are so kind, we love them, they are both return missionaries and we learned so much from them. After that we went to the Toolsys home where Steve, a new convert, received the priesthood. He has such an amazing testimony. It is powerful and I love it.

We went to the Johnson’s a family where our whole zone did some service. They provided a fire pit and s’mores. We talked about our theme and goals for this transfer.

That is my week. I love you all so much. God loves you. Have an amazing week!

Love you, love you,

Bye!

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley @myldsmail.net

sisterjosiedalley.blogspot.com

Alejandra Mariah and Vida

Hello Everybody,

Monday - Pday and a zone bbq at a member’s house where we ate and played volleyball, basketball and ping pong

and then a ward family party in the park. It was a blast. So much love.

Tuesday - District council. I love district council. We learned about contacting and how to answer questions on the spot that people throw at us. We are all just really good friends and work together well so it was fun. We went to work and contacted people which is always a blast. Dinner with the Jones family at Macaroni Grill. I was a super good day.

Wednesday - What a day! We went to service at the food pantry which is always a blast and then to a place called ReStore. We moved from a warehouse to a storage unit. We went to work going by a bunch of peoples’ houses. A little funny, we went by a home where lights were on and the tv was on and when we knocked some of the lights turned off. I could tell someone was standing by the window so I waved. The next thing we knew the rest of the lights and the tv went off and the bolt on the door locked. Clink. We laughed so hard and decided we should choose another time to stop by. That is what happens sometimes.

Thursday - We read a lesson with Alejandra called families and family history work. We set dates to do family history work and a date to go to the temple. We get to go with her. I am so excited for her! Woot! We met a really cool guy, Jake, who is a marine. His sister is a convert so he had gone to church with her and had nothing but praise for the members but says it isn’t for him. He doesn’t know, the church is for everyone. Maybe someday.  We went by many other houses. Working hard, having fun.

Friday - What a wonderful day! We did weekly planning. It takes so long. As you may have noticed, I did not talk about Tiffany’s baptism. It was supposed to be this Friday in the Carlsbad YSA. I called Sister Miles and Sister Eyre and Sister Jacobsen. They informed me that Tiffany was ghosting them which means she stopped talking to them, stopped answering them. She basically fell off the face of the earth and ghosted the sisters there. So she did not get baptized and is moving so probably won’t. Basically, my heart is broken. I never knew what missionaries meant when they tried to explain how they felt when someone who knew the church is true and had experiences to build their testimony and still chose to go against it. Kind of sad about that. I love her so much and hope she finds it again someday.

I studied the hymn I Need thee Every Hour. I love this hymn. It has never been so real to me before out here on the mission because I do need him every hour.

Saturday - I love studies and constantly learning. We went to Alejandra’s house. We started at ground zero, basically with her, then her parents and her grandparents. When we left she had five names for the temple. We were so excited for her. She kept saying how happy she is. She is so excited to go to the temple and do temple work for her family members.

We met with a member, Mariah, a freshman in high school. Her parents are not active but she is a little missionary. She invited her friend Sophia to her talk in sacrament meeting. Sophia asked the bishop after church if she could be baptized. We are trying to work with her parents to give us permission to meet with her. She also invited a friend to seminary with her. She is awesome. She is so cute.

Sunday - I love Sunday! I love fasting. It is really hard to fast on a bike though. Vida came to church and brought her less active husband. He came and we were so excited. She had a baptism date set for September 1st but we all felt it was good to push that date back a bit. I had never met her husband and he was so cool. I also saw JJ. She walked into our church and I attacked her. It was so much fun. I was so happy. Little blessing. Her mom’s cousin is in our area. I love you JJ.

We went to work talking to people and sharing the goodness of the gospel. We did a new member lesson with Steve. It was super good and spirit filled. After dinner we went to a lesson with the Johnsons, Bishop Johnson. His wife used to be the volleyball coach at American Fork high school. We talked a lot about faith and how to keep your faith and to prioritize church and the blessings that can come from making church a priority.

This week flew by. I am loving it out here. I love everything I do. So happy!

Thanks for all you guys do for me. I love you.

Today is September 3rd, my little brother Cade’s birthday, but he is not little - he is much taller than me so - Booger, Happy Birthday! Cade I hope you have an awesome birthday.

I love you all, praying for you all, have an amazing week!

Love you, love you, bye