A Great Week!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic week and are making great things happen.

A sister in our ward wanted to take pictures of our district. Here are some.

During our sacred finding time on Tuesday we ran into a man. We told him we were sister missionaries and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and he went into basher mode. That is always super fun. He started quoting scriptures at me and asking me questions. I hate bashing but I will stand up for my religion. He asked, “who created the earth?” I just recently finished memorizing The Living Christ with Sister Walters. It was cool because I could answer, “Under the direction of His Father, he (Jesus Christ) was the creator of the earth.” He asked, “do you have a scriptural reference for that?” I answered, “Yes it is in John, All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” He kept going off on all this deep doctrine. I said, “You know, we understand that you are very well learned and that you probably went to a lot of school for what you know. We are just 19 and 20 year olds out trying to Jesus Christ and the gospel. Thanks for what you do. What was your name?” He answered, “I am Pastor Grant.” My awesome companion spoke up and said, “Thanks, Pastor Grant, just so we know we don’t have any bad feelings, can we leave with a prayer?” He looked so surprised. He said, “Oh, well ya.” In the prayer she said things like, “Help them to be open minded and come to understand.” He also prayed for us. It was an interesting confrontation. The intent of bashers is try to disprove our beliefs but I always walk away with a stronger testimony. No matter what they try to say I know what I feel and I know it is true. Hopefully he has a better idea of who we are and what we believe.

During district council we talked a lot about developing faith to find. We switched up our companions and went to certain streets in one area. People were kind and gave us referrals which never really happens. Know your neighbors because we are supposed to love our neighbors. Our blitz was point based for different interactions. We were able to get six people with interest, pass out four copies of the Book of Mormon, contact 50 people, one soft baptism invite and find pick up one new person to teach. We did all that in the space of 25 minutes.It gave us increased faith to find.

We had a lesson with a returning member. She is really sweet. She knows what she should be doing but is just not doing it.

We have a night called to the rescue night where we meet with the ward missionaries. We brainstorm names and then go visit them.

This week is my year mark of becoming a sister missionary. I went into the MTC one year ago on January 24th. Huzzah! It is crazy because I feel like I just started all this Jazz.

  Some interesting things, the entire time I have been on a mission, 365 days, I have never bought new shampoo and conditioner.

I feel like the woman who was asked to give her everything and gave her all she had to feed the prophet and her cruze of oil and flour never ran out in a couple of ways. One, because my amazing never ending shampoo -  but more importantly, two, every day I am able to give all I’ve got. I feel like I might die at the end of the day. I fall into bed at the end of every day completely drained and exhausted from the days work. But every single time I am able to wake up the next morning and to hop out of bed and be excited for the day. I am suddenly refilled. I am refilled with energy and with the spirit and life and light and joy. Every single day I am able to spend completely all my energy, all my time and be completely dry by the end of the day. The next morning I get to wake up and be completely filled.

Thank you all for your amazing support this past year. You are the best!

We talked to a guy who was helping with special needs kids who recently moved here, without friends, fresh out of rehab. We taught him principles. We told him about the YSA and the opportunity learn about Jesus Christ and he is interested in the support and wants to learn.

January 25th was Hannah’s birthday! Hannah is 18! I can’t get over that. She was 16 when I left (granted she turned 17 the day after I left). It is the weirdest thing to me. Happy Birthday, Hannah! I love you very much.

We worked at the methodist food pantry like we do every week. We get to be around awesome people and make people’s days better. We helped a returning member whose floor was flooded. We moved her furniture and tore up the floors. Some Elders were with us too.

I went on an exchange to the Murietta YSA.

We picked up a potential Noah who was playing basketball. We showed him a one minute video about Jesus Christ and why we believe what we believe. We offered another guy service who said no. He waved us down on the way back and said, “you asked me if I need anything, does anyone ever ask you if  you need anything?” It was so sweet. We found a guy, Amy’s (a member) husband as a new person to teach. We went to game night with the YSA and got to meet some cool people who are not members but just came to have fun! It was really cool.

We get fresh produce from the Smedley’s. Mom, you would be jealous, I have been eating fresh California grapefruit and oranges everyday for breakfast. We went to the Olsen, the Brandts, the Andersons who are super cool missionary minded families.

We are working hard and having fun. Pray for us, help us find people to teach. I love you so much! Have a great week. Good job girlies for kickin booty at region, I am so proud of you.

Love you love you, bye!

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@myldsmail.net

sisterjosiedalley.blogspot.com

Murietta

Hi I am coming at you live from Murrieta, the Oso Oro (Golden Bear) ward.

Mon, Jan 14th - We went to lunch at the Barnson’s house because they wanted to say goodbye to me. I love them so much, it was such a blast. We did transfer journals and said goodbye to all my buddies who I love. It was really crazy. Sister Langton went home, one of my first STLs with Sister Cam Richie. We have served around each other my entire mission so far. I am going to miss her. She will be a little light at BYU Provo. We went to Temecula old town to get a sticker. The store was locked but saw us and let us in and told us how she was impressed with the elders. She gave us good discounts and free stickers. We went to Ice cream with the sisters at Baked Bear.

We went to family home evening to say goodby to a lot of people.

I said goodbye to Julie which was so sad but I know she is in great hands and will be baptized someday and I will be back for it.

Jan 15 - Britta’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Britta! I miss you tons and love you. You are amazing!

I packed and we went to breakfast with a sister and helped her take down her Christmas.

We transferred and was driven to Murrieta. I am with sister Briggs. This is her fourth transfer and she has been here the whole time. I picked up our car, a red Toyota Corolla and I am driving so it was fun. We had to shove two mattresses in it and give one to the other sisters and one to our place.

We went to YW so I got to meet a whole bunch of people off the bat.

Jan 16 - Happy Birthday Seth! Holy Cow! I love you much. You are amazing, awesome and jazzy!

We went to zone greet and talked about the theme which is MY PURPOSE.  

“My purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in the lord Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.”

We also talked about our personal purpose. Like, my purpose is to brighten the lives of at least 3 people a day. We talked about the sacrifices we gave up to be here. One of the Elders from Sweden testified none of those things matter. Afterward we went to a gal’s house, Chris, we are hoping to pick her up as a contact. We have a meeting called rescue where the members come and tell us about the missionary work they are doing and let us know the help they need from us.

Thursday, Jan 17 -  I studied a lot about Joy! Surprise, surprise! I studied the talk by President Nelson where he says, “Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy.” He says to plead for joy just like we plead for charity. It is a really good reminder. Everyone asks me why I am so happy and this quote describes it perfectly. We went to a meeting with the Elders to make a trifold for members how they can convert themselves and then convert others.

We had sacred finding time which is always a blast. We did facebook and phone work. I got a lot of concerns about my knees but I am fine.

Friday - We had a zone breakfast with the stake high council people over missionary work. We went to a food pantry at the Methodist Church. Many came to get food because of the government shutdown. We created relationships with people from all backgrounds and all religions. We had our daily planning, studies, weekly planning.

We went out to work and saw miracles. First, we planned to see a part member family and knocked but no one answered so we walked across the street. The house had christmas lights on so we decided she was a happy person. Clara Stanton, a little seven year old member was at the house. She gave sister Briggs a hug and said I know you, then she looked at me and said, I will get to know you. She chatted away about the gospel so the lady, Clara’s neighbor who was not a member  invited us in. Clara told the lady she was being baptized soon and that she would invite her. This cute little seven year old was doing this awesome missionary work talking about missions and temples. Then we went to visit a less active girl but we found her nonmember husband. We talked with him about the gospel and formed a relationship with him and he is happy to have us come back and talk with both of them.

Jan 19 - Happy Birthday Hunter Wooten and Grandpa Dalley! You are both amazing. We played ultimate frisbee as a zone for exercising. We had studies and did street contacting. We found a dirt trail we thought was a short cut but ended up going on an accidental hike and having conversations with people on the trail. We gave Keith a picture of the Salt Lake Temple. He’s cool, he will get baptized someday.

We drove to a meeting but hit a piece of car that flew off another car. Our car was rattling and making lots of noises. We left our car at Pep Boys to be fixed while we went to a meeting. We went to eat at Mega Tom’s Burgers which surprisingly had yummy greek food.

We picked up our car. I am known in the mission office as Problem #1, this proves it again, the minute I am in a car again  there is a problem.

I love the new Come Follow Me program. It is super inspired. We had district correlation where we get advice from our district members on how to teach or handle situations.

Jan 20 - We had wark council at 7:30 am and for sacrament meeting we got to hear a farewell talk from Annie, the bishop’s daughter who is going on a mission. We had missionary correlation meeting. We defined our goals and made plans to do things better.  We went to a less active members house and spoke with her nonmember daughter. We went to Tamaja, La Cresta and DeLuse. These areas are way out far away. It was super hilly. I felt like we were taking a canyon drive. We went to these places - many homes were gated - but it just gave us this overwhelmed feeling of how many people are in our area. We need to invite ALL THESE PEOPLE to come unto Christ.

We went to dinner with Amanda, a less active member, and Kevin,  her husband who is not a member. We hope to pick him back up as a person with interest. Lots to do there.

I hope you all have an amazing week as well!

Love you, love you, bye!

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@myldsmail.net

sisterjosiedalley.blogspot.com

Crashes and Transfers!

Hi Family, Sister Dalley here. I am so happy to be talking to you! To let you all know about life in Temec”Utah” the promised land.

Mon, Jan 7 - Pday Laundry, shopping, emailing and sports. We went out to work with some less actives and got a lot done.

Tues, Jan 8 - We had district council and talked about the talk “Catch the Wave”. Elder Gibson our district talked about getting people on the trend of the gospel and be just as excited to share it as we were about fidget spinners our senior year. We took dying pics of our zone leader Elder Stark because he is going home.

We went to one of our members house, Sister Young, she is the secretary of the Relief Society. We sat down with her and went over the list she wrote up for us two transfers ago of people she wanted us to go by and try. She added some names to our list and told her how we were doing with those she sent us to see. We love sacred finding time.

Wed, Jan 9 - We had exercise time and then we had food pantry. I love the people at food pantry, they are my favorite. Then we went to Vida’s house because we were supposed to have a  lesson with her. Then we went and worked - contacting and knocking. Many know members but are not interested in learning more. We have amazing conversations here and there and are planting seeds.

We had a revelations study with Guy. We always have interesting conversations with him. Then we went to YM and YW and then came home and did our new testament study and Come Follow Me.

Thurs, Jan 10 - We went to commodities. There is a member Amy who is just so sweet so she gave me circus animal cookies because she heard I like them and a travel journal. She is so sweet, it was such a sweet little gift. She gave me a  big hug and told me I had brightened her day.

Friday, Jan 11 - We went to Kate Johnson’s house and took her to ice cream for her birthday. I love Kate.

She wants to go on a mission and has a lot of questions.

We introduced Vida to Come Follow Me, the curriculum, the book and all that will be happening at church. She really liked it. We talked a lot about faith especially with the lesson for this week. It was super good. It put a little fire behind her. She committed to studying everday so we will see how that goes. We are excited for her.

Sat, Jan 12 - We had transfer calls. I am leaving Temecula but am not going very far, just up the road to Murrieta. The sister I am going to be with is Sister Briggs. Her companion went home for medical reasons. She has been with the STLs Sister Bradford and Sister Lee. Right after we heard about transfer calls I went on an exchange in this new area.

I was introduced as her new companion to the ward and the Bishop and a bunch of people in my new area. We had dinner with all my future missionary friends and future zone leaders. On my exchange, we saw snow. People roll out this nice fabric on their lawn that they try and make look like snow.

Sister Briggs is from Minnesota so definitely knows snow and has that cute accent.

We had a super good day and saw some miracles. There are always miracles on exchanges. We exchanged back and had a district study. We studied Come Follow Me because we are each other’s family. I am super sad there is going to be change. But I love new and I love meeting people.

Sun, Jan 13 - We had church and goodbyes to everybody.

We had just finished the sacrament and the speaker started talking. I looked around seeing if there was anyone new there or anyone I did not recognize. I started crying because I will miss my family. I am grateful I got to serve here and work with these members and their amazing desires.

I am so grateful I got to teach Bryant and Vida and their desires. I will miss them.

I have been in this ward for six months now so there is a time for change, new, learning and expanding. I am excited to go and serve in murrieta. I am excited to learn from Sister Briggs and to learn from her and grow some more.

After church we had our ward council. They asked me to give the thought or basically to share my testimony. I read them the hymn The Lord is My Light. It is an amazing example of how I feel about the Lord and who He is to me. Go read it, it is bomb.

We went to Alejandra and said goodbye to her.

We were riding from Alejandra’s to a lesson with Alyssa. We were going down this little running and biking path. It is a bridge that goes over a river bank. There was mud on the path at a corner. I did not see it until I was on it and had a crash. I got a little banged up. My knees and hand are a bit scratched up. I feel like I got hit by a car because my ribs and neck and head got hit. Sister Walter’s had a little first aid kit so I patched myself up.

Then we went to Alyssa’s. She had a lot of the same questions her mom did especially about temples. The church just released a video about temples so we shared that with her. We also chatted about our afterlife.

Then we went to the Mays. She has a less active son Taylor. We talked about peace with him and his girlfriend who is not a member and had a lot of questions.

That is my week. I have a lot to do to get ready for transfers.

Love you, love you, bye.

Happy January!

Hello everybody, Happy New Year! I hope you all are doing great! 2019 I can’t believe it and January, I started this journey in January.

Starting it off right with Dec 31, New Years Eve. We had an all day pday. That basically means we don’t go out to work at night. Sister Barnson took us shopping for our pants which is so crazy! The best is to go thrift shopping and I bought like five pairs of pants for $20. It is super weird. I have worn them a couple of times out proselyting and I feel apostate. It will take a minute for me to get used to but it will be good. I like it for biking but it is really different. We went to the Las Brisas building in Murrieta for a combined pday with the Murrieta zone. We played missionary jeopardy and missionary pictionary and sports and stuff. It was really fun.

I finished the Book of Mormon like the prophet asked! Wahoo! Like every other time I have read and finished the Book of Mormon, I knelt down and I prayed. I always ask if it is true. Even though I have received that answer over and over again, it is just that reaffirming assurance that the Book of Mormon is true. I asked and I just sat there crying because I was just so happy. The emotion I got was, c’mon Sister Dalley, you know it is true, and I was like I know, I am just asking because it tells me to ask.

Also, another funny thing, I lost my nametag earlier that day and couldn’t find it anywhere. So while I was praying about the Book of Mormon I asked Heavenly Father to help me find my name tag. I stood up, walked over and just picked it up of the ground. I immediately knelt down again to thank Heavenly Father for helping me find my nametag. Blessings!

January 1, we had district council. We learned a lot about the Come Follow Me program and how we can teach from it and help members understand it better. We went to work to our furthest most far out there area with hills. We tracted. It is warm during the day but it gets super cold during the night.  I guess cold to me is 50 degrees. I have become super climatized.

January 2, we went to the food pantry and then we went to work. We worked with all our less actives. We set up appointments for when we could come back and teach them and why they aren’t coming; Sister Walters and I are reading the New Testament together.

January 3, I went to Carlsbad to get a root canal :( Dr. Packard, our gospel doctrine teacher from the Carlsbad YSA, did it.

January 4, we went to Vista for an all region mission meeting. We got pounded in a loving way. We learned a lot about light. We talked about how in the D&C and throughout the scriptures it talks about light and understanding as God gives us. He talked about expanding our capacity to hold light. He said the more obedient we are the greater capacity we have to hold light so more light can be given to us. We can help others come in line with God and Jesus Christ as we are in line. We got kind of thrown down and thrashed a little bit but it made us want to be better.  I am excited for things that are happening. We learned that our mission will be affected by the California mission boundary changes. It will be during my last transfer. It was a cool experience to see the whole mission again. Sister Miles, Sister Stoddard and my friends from the MTC.

When we got back, we went to work with our less actives and the potentials around those less actives. We were all charged up and ready to go!

January 5th, Grandma Wanda, it is your birthday! Happy Birthday! I love you so much, you are amazing!

We had a busy day. We went to a lesson with Bryant. It has been a month and a half since he has been baptized. He was surprised he gets to review the lessons again. He asked, what about my mom? We answered we were still teaching his mom and he was like, ya, you can babysit her, she needs help. We talked about the restoration. He is so smart. We always have such a good discussion with Bryant. He is awesome!

Then we had a lesson with Vida. She has kind of taken two steps back. She needs your prayers. She wants it but it is just helping her get there.

We went to Alyssa’s house, her dad is a member but mom is not. She had been meeting with missionaries before. We didn’t find her but met with her mom Sue. She asked us a bunch of questions about baptism and temples and being sealed. She told us about a bunch of tender mercies she has had with missionaries.

January 6, I was sitting in church and I leaned over to Sister Walters and said “On this day, twelve years ago, I was baptized!” I cannot tell you I remembered much other than I spilled chocolate on my dress. I remember being happy. That single action of being baptized has made such an incredible impact on my life so even though I don’t remember much of it, I am forever grateful for that day.

I love the come follow me program and church almost seems too short, I want more of it. We ar super excited about all the changes. We visited Darlene Brown and read some scriptures to her and chatted with her a little bit. We worked, knocking on doors and having fun. After, we went to visit the empty nesters.

It has been a really great week! I hope you all have a fantastic week! I am super excited to be starting a new year. I love you all so much. You are all amazing human beings. I am grateful for all you do for me.

Love you, love you, bye!

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@myldsmail.net

sisterjosiedalley.blogspot.com