Wilford Woodruff Week

Day 2

May 2019

Hundred Hour Work Week!

Hola Mi Familia,
We worked this morning so did not have much time to email today.

This week was Wilford Woodruff Week. We started last Monday at 10 am and worked that day until 9 pm. Every other day we got up at 6 am, got ready, did a half hour study and were out the door by 7:30 am. We worked all day until 9:30 at night. The work we could do was service, lessons, member lessons and finding. So our days were very similar with a lot of tracting and finding and service. The only difference between each day was our numbers so here we go.

Monday - We picked up Katie and Kayla and they both accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. We invited them to read about it and pray about it. It was really good and they are excited about it. We knocked on 93 doors (5 streets) and did family history with Anne. She has a crazy amount of work to do on her line and she loves family history. In total, we worked 11 hours and 30 minutes. Tada

Day 2 - Tuesday was just a lot of finding. We worked 14 hours and knocked 9 streets, 141 doors. We handed out two copies of the Book of Mormon and picked up two new people. We worked in our areas and other missionaries’ areas as well to help them out.

Day 3 - We worked 14 hours and 2 hours of service. We knocked 5 streets, 132 doors, picked up one person and dropped one copy of the Book of Mormon. We also had district council where we talked about patience - patience with the work, patience with ourselves and patience with God’s timing. It was so cool to see how God’s timing works. We learned how to use different tracting techniques like with a basic beliefs gospel video, a survey and with family history. That day was crazy crunch time awesome. This whole week was crunch time.

Day 4 - Thursday the 9th, we worked 14 hours with 2 ½ hours of service. We knocked on 4 streets and dropped 2 copies of the Book of Mormon. We did not pick up any people. That day we also went to cultivating inclusion. We got to work with the special needs people there. That is always my favorite. There was a lady with beautiful roses in her front yard. I complimented her roses and she gave me a bouquet of flowers. That was such a tender mercy because right after that we learned about a ward member who passed away and we dropped off our roses at the house to comfort the wife because she loves flowers. What are the odds? God knew how that lady was going to feel and that she would need some comfort. He gave us the opportunity to serve her. He gave me something I love so we could give her something she loves. That was so sweet.

Day 5 - the 10th we worked 14 hours, had 6 service hours, knocked 4 streets and 100 doors. Zero Book of Mormons and zero new people. We passed out care packages at the food pantry to the mothers for Mother’s Day which was super fun. We were able to give them a little light in their lives. Right after that we sewed with the stake relief society for the gal who is taking the humanitarian project to India. I got to use my nursing skills and give sister Stoddard a shot in her leg. It was the best!

Day 6 on the 11th we worked 14 hours, 4 ½ hours of service, 4 streets (45 doors) knocked 3 copies of the Book of Mormon and 2 new people. That day our service was the blood drive and had a captive audience, literally. Legally, those who get their blood drawn had to sit in our snack area for 15 minutes!! We got to talk to everybody for 15 minutes straight. It was super great! There were a lot of nonmembers and members. It was great and super fun!

Day 7 - Sunday - we worked 14 hours, 0 service, 7 streets, 108 doors, 1 Book of Mormon and 1 person. We also got to call our dear mothers on Mother’s day! Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and all the mother figures in my life. I love you all so much. Mom, I am so grateful for you, I hope you know that. That was an awesome day, lots of work, it was crazy. But everyone was either busy with their families or not very interested. Yet, we were able to see a miracle and her name is Polly. We knocked on Polly’s door at 7:45. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon. We asked her if she ever heard of it. She answered, “I heard of it but I have never had the chance to have one or to read it.” So we offered it to her. She said “I’d love it, thank you so much, I am going to read this.” We were like ya we teach with that book and we teach of Jesus Christ and asked if we could come. She is really excited to learn more and learn about the Book of Mormon. So that is really fun. She is a miracle!

This morning, Day 8, we worked 6 hours today until 1 pm. We knocked 3 different streets and 32 doors. We didn’t leave any copies of the Book of Mormon or pick up any people.

In total our week was 100 hours of work which is insane. It was so hard, so crazy and so fun! 17 hours of service, 41 streets, 743 doors total, 11 copies of the Book of Mormon and 8 new people. I have a true testimony that sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. I love that God loves us so much that he is willing to bless us with success and with miracles. I have truly seen miracles this week. This week was crazy. I feel like every single day we were placed in people’s paths. Either we needed them or they needed us. I feel like we were truly guided in being placed where God’s children would be found. We were placed in different circumstances where we would learn more and grow more because frankly it was hard and my body is so exhausted and I am really sleep deprived but guess what, we are going out again and are going to work some more. It was a fun week and it was a good bonding time with our zone as well. I truly have a testimony that God is real and a God of miracles and he loves us so much.

To kind of go along with miracles, I want to share this scripture in Moroni 7

35 ... has the day of miracles ceased?
36 Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?
37 Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men…”

This week was truly a week of faith and miracles. Miracles have not ceased, we saw so many!

I hope you all have a fantastic week! To my mama, I love you, I miss you, I hope you had a fantastic mothers day, it was fun to talk to you. Thank you all for your amazing love and support. Thank you for your love, your light and for bringing me joy. I truly felt your prayers this week. I felt myself slipping into exhaustion and then I would be filled with joy because of what I was doing. Joy has a way of wiggling itself into my life because I am so happy to be part of this amazing work, the work of the Lord. I love being a missionary!

Love you, love you, bye!
Sister Dalley
josie.dalley@missionary.org
sisterjosiedalley.blogspot.com

Run don't Walk

Hello everybody, how are you doing today? It was an awesome, week a crazy week, no week is normal.

Monday - we played ultimate and signs and basketball for pday. We had a short pday and went to work early. Something fun. We were tracting and knocked on a door. Wet met a guy named John, he wasn’t interested. We knocked on the rest of the street and came back by John’s house. He was outside and started chatting with us again. He asked if we play any kind of instrument and said he used to have missionaries come and play music with him. His wife was home and they invited us in and he taught me how to play the steel guitar. He says I am a natural. He is this funny groovy jazzy navajo descendent who plays for his church. They invited  us back to dinner. We gained a really cool relationship with him.

For family home evening we went to the Stratfords and taught them a discussion about Helaman 5:12. We talked about home we constantly need to be building our foundation, our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Tuesday - we went to a service project at the Satley’s. Her friend Sonja’s daughter who is in medical school is doing a humanitarian project and taking a bunch of supplies and going to India. It was really cool, it was great.

We left there and went to President interviews. You all know how much I absolutely love President. He is my bestie and we are so tight. Something that I thought was so special to me is President invited me to share with him my testimony of the Book of Mormon. So I shared my testimony with him and couldn’t help but cry. I cried, he cried, we laughed. He said “Wow Sister Dalley, now you could never say to me that the church is not true.” I gained that testimony and that witness out here on my mission. It brings so much light and peace and joy into my life. He has seen my progression and growth. I have seen it too.

We had a good conversation. He asked me how I am doing. I answered I am doing great. I love missionary life. My family is doing great at home. I am working hard and having fun. The only thing that is stressing me out is the fact I go home so soon. He said, “Me too.” We had a good little chat about that, how we love being missionaries and we never want it to end. I asked him if I could extend. He said he would ask to do so too and you would ask if I could be on his list of missionaries who extend with him. I love him. He is amazing. We have positive offs. He asked me my goals. I wrote down, “Run don’t walk” I am doubling my urgency and dedication. I have enough time for a lot of things but is it coming up quickly.

We went tracting. I love tracting we tract a lot. A lot of “No’s” a lot of people using their agency. You’ve gotta love that.

We went to mutual speed friendshipping and a lot of my less active friends were there. How fun is that?

Wed - We exchanged and I went to Murrieta YSA. We woke up early and went to the food pantry. Everyone there was so sweet and Christlike. We went to campus. I love YSA work. I have missed that. We did a book with questions. The question we asked is “What has given me peace in my life?” They have a spinning wheel where they have to answer a question. We talked to a beautiful girl, Jasmine, she is spiritual but doesn’t really have a religion. We talked to her about the church and the Book of Mormon. We gave her a Book of Mormon. She was excited and we picked her up as a person to teach. It was a really good day full of miracles and the spirit.

Thursday - we drove with Sister Rushton to the temple. Oh my goodness it was so beautiful. I love the temple. Go to the temple. If you go to the temple, go to the temple more. I can’t believe I took for granted how close the temples were. Home and Idaho, I have lived 5 minutes from the temple. The San Diego temple is an hour to an hour and a half from where I am and that is too far. So many blessings in the temple, so much spirit, and so many answers. That temple is a school for Heaven.  I love it.

We talked to the San Diego sisters there and found out about their mission president. We tracted when we got home. We knocked on the Trueblood’s door. They are not active. We got to build a relationship with them and invite the spirit in their home. We talked with the Nielsen's about missionary work and who they might want to invite to listen to the gospel.

Friday - we did facebook work and work at the food pantry, always the best, you know I love it. We planned for our Wilford Woodruff Week, a hundred hour work week. Most of our zone decided to do it. We are working from 10 to 9:30 today and then the rest of the week we are  getting up a half hour early and working all day, 7:30 to 9:00. We are doing straight missionary work and cutting out anything that is not productive. We are staying out all day and eating on the road. Crunch time dedicated missionary work. We are so excited to do this. We know we will see miracles and are prepared to see them. Any prayers you want to send our way, we will accept that. I am so pumped to just go out and work 100 hours in one week.

We had a lesson with Justin, he is YSA age. He had invited his brother Jake to learn with him. We set some expectations and taught them the restoration and gave them a soft baptismal invite and they accepted it. I felt the spirit and they did too. I loved it. It was so great to teach again, share that love and light and bear testimony of the fruit of the gospel. I love that. It is so true.

We went to service at Carlyn’s house. She is very well versed in the bible. Miss Carlyn thought it was a  good idea to bash us. I wasn’t very appreciative of it. I am grateful though that Heavenly Father gave us the opportunity that morning to testify Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. That morning he gave us the spiritual confirmation that what we were saying was true. He gave us that light and spirit. That morning I was teaching someone the importance of those truths. I just know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, I know he was called of God and translated the Book of Mormon. I know the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church on this earth. I have seen my relationship with Jesus Christ grow into something I never thought that it could be. I am so grateful for the knowledge and faith I have. I will never deny my savior Jesus Christ and my Father who I love so much. So, when someone tries to bash me, I just want them to know how much God loves them and how much I love my savior. I still love Carlyn, we helped her a lot. We are still doing the work of God and standing up for our beliefs. Her husband told us we were his miracle. He had prayed because he wasn’t handling life at that time and we came. He has been telling everyone we were his miracle.

We went to El Gordito’s which was so good! If you have a chance to eat mexican food in southern California, do it.

Sunday, May 5, happy cinco de mayo! The spirit in church is so amazing. We had dinner with the Franks and the Conely’s. They are crazy people. I fit in well because they actually remind me of my family.

We actually stopped teaching a lot of people this week. That is always an equation to see miracles. We showed faith to put them back in God’s oven and give them a little more preparation time before they receive the gospel. We will pick up new people because of that faith. I am so excited to see all of those.

Please send emails, I love them! I would love encouraging words because this next week is going to be crazy. This week is a perfect week to start off my goal, to run not walk for high intensity and boldness and we started it off perfectly with a fast for missionary work. Thank you for all your prayers for me for your support for my mission and my areas. I hope you have a fantastic week. I am so excited for it.

Have a great week! Love you, love you, bye!

The Future is as Bright as Your Faith

We have a short pday today and for the next few weeks. We are attending the temple this week and are doing great missionary stuff in the next few weeks. I may be a little sparse.

Pday was awesome we did all our prep and went bowling with our district. We dropped off cookies to friends to give them some extra love. We did some phone work and practiced our song together as a district.

Tuesday practiced our song one more time and then had zone conference.

Zone conference is amazing. We always learn so much and I am able to take away so many things from it. We talked a lot about using the Book of Mormon more in our teaching  with our members, nonmembers and less actives. Also using Preach My Gospel. It is written for missionaries and also for members. We talked about how to begin teaching so there is no confusion about what they expect us to do and what we expect them to do. It was great to see all my people and learn so much all together. Our song went well, we sang I Stand All Amazed. God blesses our efforts.

After zone conference we did some planning and then went to New Beginnings. Their theme was “Your future is as bright as your faith” so everything was yellow, which I love.

My mom and mermaid sisters sent me mermaid easter eggs so we died them.

Wednesday we went to service. Carlyn liked us so much so she called up her friends Rosa and John. They had us come help them clean up and paint a house and yard. John asked us questions about our missionary service and what we do. It was really cool. We got cleaned up and did some family history with Ann. She was having a hard time keeping track of her relatives so I drew a family tree descendancy chart from something her Uncle gave her. We then went to To the Rescue. We visited the Hoyts and shared about trials and finding joy in trials and how we can help others from our experiences.

Sister Kartchner and I are cleaning up our cars, our apartments, our appearance, our organization and our language. Not that we say naughty things but there are a few words that we are trying to remove from our vocabulary. We counted how many times we said those words and ate a jalapeno for every time we said those words. I ended up with 14 and Sister Kartchner with 12. It was death. It hurt so bad. Needless to say, I have only said two words. We have seen miracles and blessings and are able to feel the spirit more now that we are more able to be recognized as representatives of Jesus Christ. We are seeing miracles from it.

Thursday we went to Cultivating Inclusion. We planted Okra, watered plants and weeded and we helped our sweet special needs people. I love them very much. We had our finding time, knocking doors, which is our favorite. We went to the Stock’s house. They have a little daughter who is seven and so they want us to teach her the missionary discussions so she can understand why she is getting baptized. We went to the super talented Conely’s and they basically gave us a talent show. Their youngest spoke up and said “I don’t have any talents.” We talked about the parable of the talents and how Heavenly Father has given us talents to us. Little Justin, after his brothers sang and played the piano, stood up in the middle of the floor and started dancing.

During sacred finding time we met a super cute lady, Armida. We testified of the Book of Mormon. She heard about it but had never read it. So we gave her one and she said she would read it. So we are reading the Book of Mormon and discussing it with Armida. We then helped the Beck’s create a family mission plan.

Saturday, the best day ever. Steve and Brenda Tullis picked me and Sister Povi up and we went to the temple for Steve for endowments. Ah, it was so amazing. The temple was actually under construction but it was one of the most beautiful days ever. During the session I thought about Steve and how he was experiencing the temple for the first time. I remembered my first time attending the temple and hearing the blessings and promises and things I will be able to have if I follow the gospel. My mom will attest, I was actually bouncing I was so giddy, and what is amazing to me, nothing has changed. That is the ultimate goal for everyone we teach. I was not there for Steve’s baptism but I taught him all the new member lessons. Steve and Brenda are so special to me. They are literally like another pair of grandparents. Seeing Steve in the celestial room so excited and happy made my heart happy.

It was such a special day and I feel so so blessed to be part of it. Go to the temple people, that is where true joy is. We went to dinner at Miguel’s to celebrate.

Sunday, all of sacrament meeting was focused on missionary work. It was really good. We went to class with the YW. Shaelee taught a fantastic lesson. We tracted a lot that day. We went to dinner with the Blairs. They have three little boys. They are the cutest. We delivered more cookies and went to district correlation and decided to do something crazy, a Wilford Woodruff week. Apparently he is a legend when it comes to baptizing people. It begins next Monday at noon. It will be a hundred hour work week, woot woot. Wish us luck and please send us your prayers because we will need it. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven right.

Love you all so much! I hope you have a fantastic week. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you. I am grateful for you in my life. I am grateful for the gospel in my life and I am so grateful to be a missionary and share Jesus Christ, his light and his joy, with everybody. The joy is not just for me, it is for everybody.

Love you, love you, bye!

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@missionary.org

sisterjosiedalley.blogspot.com

Happy Easter!

This week was great. Every week is great. Let’s be real, we are missionaries.

M - Pday - We went to Pday at Pava in Temecula. It was fun! We were played at the Pava ward.

We went to Red Robin dinner on Grammy. Grammy is an amazing spitfire. This is the third time she has had breast cancer come back. She decided not to treat it this time but is just waiting it out. She called dinner her Christmas present. We delivered the cookies we made with lemons. We ding dong ditched with an invite to our Easter meeting to our friends and people with interest and people we used to teach and less active members.

T- We drove to Vista for our second training follow up meeting. It is a really good thing we have going on. It is really fun and we get to see all of our homies. The new missionaries teach us. They taught us the gospel of Jesus Christ and one of the commandments. It is really cool to see how much each of them are growing individually and practice and learn from each other. We got to learn a lot from our President.

He always plays the video “Missionary Work and the Atonement” it is so beautiful. I love it. Missionary work isn’t the easiest. President Eyring and Elder Holland talk about work in the church in general. Elder Holland reminds us that we should not expect missionary work to be easy because Jesus Christ’s life was not easy. When we are ridiculed and spit upon we are standing with the best. I love missionary work, I love it. We went to the Eagleston’s. She served her mission in the Caribbean. They are so cool. We talked to them about the different roles at the council in heaven. It was a great conversation.

W - District council was all about using the Book of Mormon to dispel concerns. We made lists of people’s concerns like the way we are baptized or having a prophet today or having more scripture than the bible. We use the Book of Mormon to find answers and then when they come to know the Book of Mormon is true, all those other concerns go away. We got to meet the Riverside housing coordinator at our apartment which was weird to know  our missions will be soon be mixed. They had great things to say about the president. We did our extra study. We have all the points written on a mini soccer ball and toss it to each other. Wherever our right pointer finger touches we talk about that point.

Th - We went to visit Anne. She went to a catholic religious conference and heard another woman talking about us and what we believe. She knew it was false but did not know how to defend us. She called us and wanted to learn more, she was taking notes all through it so she could stand up for us. So, we are now teaching Anne again. We are interested to see how this is going to go. She is so cool! I love Anne.

We went to “To the Rescue” night and went with Sister Nalan to La Cresta. The lady we went to visit did not answer but there was a little star on our map. We decided to go see who lived there. Dory answered and let us in. She is a returning member and her husband is not a member. She goes for cancer treatment, chemotherapy, every three weeks. We were happy to  get to know her. We then went to the Hadfield’s, a beautiful family, and shared the Because of Him video.

We went to “Cultivating Inclusion” and replanted little tomato plants and weeded furrows with the special needs kids. I love Cultivating Inclusion. We celebrated Sister Stoddard’s year mark which also means Sister Miles, my baby, has been here a year! Happy Birthday, I love you too so so much and I am so proud of the things I have seen you do.

We had a member lesson with Sister Rushton, our bishop’s wife, who used to be Jewish. We talked about the things we know because of the Book of Mormon. I love that woman. She is my favorite.

F - We biked and visited a lot of our potentials and referrals and invited a lot of people to church. I love biking. We knocked on Bruce and Leah’s door. We talked to Leah a good hour and invited them to come to church. It was a good day of work. We tracted, I love tracting. We went to the Henry’s and shared the Because of Him video. Brother Henry who is a convert of 5 years started crying and committed to make changes to make his life happier. They are super cool. I love them.

We are singing for zone conference, so we practiced.

S - We went to visit Carlyn who we tracted into. She said, “OK, for all the years I have talked to you missionaries every one of you has asked if you can do something to help me and I have never allowed you to help. But I need your help today.” We helped her do her spring cleaning. She got in a car accident about three years ago and has not been able to deep clean her house. She is super cool! I love her so much. We spent a long time that day cleaning with Carlyn. We roasted hot dogs and smores with the Wrights and then went for our song practice. Then I fixed Sister Budnah’s tire on her bike. It was a good day. Every day is a good day. It has been a happy week.

Sunday - Easter! I just love Easter.

This is the second Easter I have had on my mission. I love it! I love how everything is focused on the Savior. I think we could do better with that. At church, it was so crazy. It was beautiful with amazing talks and musical numbers. We had so many people there. They opened up both overflows and the whole gym was filled. That sounds lame to my Alpine Utah people because every Sunday is like that but it is not like that here. We went into second hour in the primary where there testimonies are so pure and they love Jesus Christ. They sang Gethsemane for us. The primary song director invited us to share our testimonies of Jesus Christ with them. It made my day because they are so special. We dropped off food from our linger longer to some of our potentials. It was a beautiful day full of happiness.

I want to share with you my testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ. I love him so much and I am so blessed and so grateful I get to wear His name on my heart every single day. I am grateful I get to share His joy and the light He offers to each of us. I am so blessed and grateful for everything He did. I am grateful for His sacrifice. It pains me to say I made my Savior suffer but I am grateful He did because without that I wouldn’t even have a chance or opportunity to go back to be with them again. I am so grateful for this gospel and the perspective and light and joy it gives me. I am so grateful I get to share it every single day. I am so grateful for Peace that comes in Christ. One of my favorite quotes is, “Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy.”

It is so true! There is no way to find true and lasting joy without Jesus Christ. There is no way we could do anything with happiness without Him and His atonement.

One of my favorite scriptures is John 16:33 “In the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” It is an amazing reminder that we can be happy, of good cheer, because Jesus Christ has overcome the world. That is my testimony.

I love you all so much. Have an amazing week because we all will. There is no way we can’t because we are disciples of Jesus Christ. I hope you had a fantastic Easter.

Thanks for everything you do for me.

Love you, love you, bye!

Sister Dalley

josie.dalley@missionary.org

Sisterjosiedalley.blogspot.com

Joy!

I had a fantastic week!

The talk I want to share with you was given by Elder Bednar and it is called “That they might have joy.” I really love this talk because it is all about joy. We can have great joy because of the plan of salvation. He talked about becoming joyful and how we can have that in our countenances. He quoted a lot of hymns and showed how joy is everywhere in the hymns. I have been personally marking everywhere it talks about joy in the scriptures and the hymns.  He said, “We have a simple and sincere message for everyone to come to the savior and find true joy.”

He compares joy and worldly fun. He says that joy is not a fleeting moment or emotion. It is a spiritual gift and state of being and becoming. He talks about joy as a spiritual gift. I personally feel so blessed to have that joy. He taught joy is spiritual, fun is temporal, joy is enduring, fun is temporary, joy is deep and rich, fun is shallow, joy is whole and complete, fun is partial, joy is mortal and eternal, fun is mortal only.” He asked us to never trade eternal

Constantly throughout the talk he said,” Jesus Christ is the source of true joy.” Another quote he said is “I have come to believe one measure of our eternal progress is how much joy we derive from service.” I have personally believed this my whole mission. I have come to see my entire mission as successful not just the times where I was finding or helping someone be baptized but all the times I feel joy which is a fruit of the spirit.

I know that I feel that joy it is not just a blessing for a select few people, it is available to all.  

It is amazing, I love it so much.

I know I am constantly talking about happy I am. It is so true! If you look up joy in the bible dictionary it says obedience.

True obedience brings true joy. We are giving those commandments to give us true joy.

I love you all so much! I am so grateful for all you do for me. I hope you  have an amazing week cuz I know I will.

I hope you loved meeting my members. They sent us a picture and I am amazed how tall Cade is. Is he taller than both Jake and Dad?

Love you so much!