Mexico Bound

Today Elder Benjamin Dazey was able to call us from the airport in Houston, Texas on his way to Puebla, Mexico! The call was a little delayed because he and his companion found someone to teach the Gospel to in the airport! Yay missionaries! Here is a picture of he and his companion on the way to Mexico.

Humility and Happiness

On Thu, Oct 23, 2014

I'm so glad that everything is going well. I heard from Anna that First Ladies had a great concert! You're doing great, Julia, keep it up. 6th chair freshman year? You're a boss.

I can't wait for Mexico. I feel ready. I've learned what I need to go, and I feel that I will be able to understand and speak very well. We've had the opportunity to teach members in Mexico over Skype twice. I understood most of what they said. It is awesome how much more I know now than I did in April. I can even roll my R's. For those of you that don't know, I have always had trouble rolling my R's. I started doing it like the first week that I came. I told the other Elders that I couldn't, and in less than ten minutes they had helped me do it. This is a miracle. The gift of tongues is real. I haven't had any crazy "I used words that I didn't know" experiences yet, but the Spirit has definitely played a huge hand in bringing all things to my remembrance. The gifts of the Spirit are REAL. I have been blessed with them. I have done things I could not have without them. 

 I took my personal study time yesterday to study about humility. I learned so much about it. Any doubts that I have had, any spiritual lack has been severely cut down after studying this. I love you all. Thanks for telling me about the 21 day prayers, Dad. I love to see all of your spiritual progression. Keep reading your scriptures. All of you. The blessings are real. Let Alex hear them too. Keep preparing spiritually. One of my favorite blessings from studying humility is in D and C 67. Go read it. I read Our search for Happiness this week. It was glorious. Perfect for members and non-members alike. (It was actually written towards non-members) Find a copy and read. You will Understand The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints a lot better.

I love you all. Till Mexico.

-Elder Dazey

Spanish is Great and Sharing the Gospel through Modern means

Voy a empezar con tus preguntas. La idioma es bonita. Me encanta español y estoy MUCHISIMO ANIMADO para ir a Mexico. Pienso que tendremos nuestros planes de viajar mañana! La enseñanza en español es facil pienso. Aveces no puedo recordar las palabras que debo usar, pero puedo hablar mas suave. No, no podíamos ver Conozca A Los Mormones. Es una lastima. Todos quieren verla. Estoy celoso que Chellie podia verla. El otro dia, Elder Klingaman pidio a el sitio de web a tener el video en el CCM (MTC) No pienso que vamos a verla, todavia no hay un video en español. Entonces, tengo que esperar. Voy a escribir mas en ingles despues que lavo me ropa. Se amo a todos!
It was great to have all of the letters from everyone. It is great to know that people are thinking and praying about me. I'm glad that I provided a Where's Waldo? moment, Doug. The MTC is great. Spanish is great. My companion and I are better than ever. The district is great. I was released as the District Leader, and since our Zone is now only our district, Elder Wilson and I are the Sacrament coordinators, and everyone has a "calling." 

We had two great devotionals this past week. We had D Greg Droubay, the missionary media president (I actually have no Idea what the name of that calling actually is) speak to us. He shared a lot about what is going on in advertising for the church and how they are helping us missionaries. He said that Mormon.org gets 44,976 unique site views a day, 897 people that chat with missionaries a day, and 323 referrals for missionaries. I love how we are using the internet the way it is intended to be. Keep Flooding The Earth With The Gospel. You can be the difference in other people's lives. Share Goodness, share talks, scriptures, pictures, info-graphs. You are helping us as missionaries. He told us to invite all to visit Mormon.org and ask them if they have seen our advertisements. 

 Please watch Meet the Mormons for me. I want to see it so bad, and all of the proceeds go to the Red Cross. You're practically killing two birds with one stone. Our other devotional was from Elder Larry R. Lawrence of the seventy. He talked about how we can combat Satan in our lives. He explained that when we feel temptation, we need to command Satan to go away, and then site a scripture. You all have power over him. You can do it. Please do it. Another interesting thing that I learned is that Satan does not know our thoughts. So he does not know the fruits of his labor until we act. We have the power through our own efforts and the power of God to overcome temptation. God will not allow him to tempt us more than we can bear. I love you all and encourage you to not stand passive during the coming forth of this great work. The Restoration isn't over, and You can be part of it. 

I love you all, and hope that you are safe, happy, and choosing the right.

Love, 

Elder Dazey

Thoughts on General Conference

It has been getting cooler here, and I think I am getting a lot better at breathing this mountain air :D I did send the snail mail letter, and it should get to you. If it hasn't, that probably means that Katie didn't get hers either. Could you mention to her that I have sent her a letter? I am so glad that you all are so busy and that you get to go to the temple! This week has been great, and I'd love to share some of my experiences with General Conference. 

General Conference was a blast. The first session, I had three questions prepared. How can I receive answers to my prayers? How can I be a better Husband and Father in the future? and, How can I be a better Missionary? Each one of thes questions was essentially answered in the first session :D President Uchtdorf had a whole talk on personal revelation, there were a million and a half talks about families (Especially Elder Scott's talk which I encourage everyone to rewatch/read and apply in large doses), and overall missionary work was a main topic also. I really enjoyed Elder Bednar's talk in the last session, and I think that he perfectly explained why I am here, and why there are 88,033 other missionaries out here with me. (Including my big sis :D) This is it: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/come-and-see?lang=eng 

This is important. This video explains why we share the gospel. I want you all to know. It is also quite entertaining.

Go ahead and pause your reading right now. 

Watch the video.

I will wait.

You have plenty of time.

I don't care who you are. If you have stumbled upon my blog, then welcome. Watch the video.

Thanks :D

So, I had to make a fourth question, "How can I correct behavior with love?" Which was quickly answered in President Eyring's talk were he said that we must show an increase of love, meaning that we must have already shown them love at first. 

Priesthood session was one of those times where you sit down in the choir's seats behind the stand with Prophets of God and just think to yourself about how glorious everything is. It's one of those pipe dreams you put on your bucket list expecting not to come true, and then God displays his infinite capacity to bestow tender mercies. Singing with that choir was fantastic. I only hope that we were able to touch the hearts of every person watching and listening. It truly was glorious. 

After the session, I shook Clay Christiansen's hand, and we went intoa passageway behind the choir seats. I proceeded to see the director of BYU Vocal Point, and found myself shaking his hand and exchanging a few words about my mission and whether I was going to attend BYU. God blessed me. A lot. It was like missionary Christmas. I also shook hands with the General Music Predsident ( I want to say that was his calling) and I thanked him. He responded by saying "Don't thank me, thank God." He's the one who set this up. This was something I had realized while sitting up there. I pleaded with God that I could remember this experience, and I received the answer that I would remember it if I was grateful for it. The church is true. Christ Lives. We have a prophet today. I love all of you and hope that you are doing well!

Love,

Elder Dazey

P.S.- Mom, I am happy. Enjoy the pictures. They are of me and my district.

A bit about life at the MTC

Oct. 2, 2014I 

So I know that I didn't write a letter last week, but hopefully I can tell you a little bit more about what goes on at the MTC on a weekly basis. I'll try to abridge my journal. 

My first day we had an MTC Presidency Message, and we sang Army of Helaman. However, we replaced the words so that it said, 'And we are now the Lord's missionaries,' and 'For now we are called.' This was the greatest feeling. It's like every song that hopes for missionary work has now been achieved. I am a missionary!

Throughout the first week we started teaching lessons with an investigator. These were great  experiences even though we found out the next week that this investigator was actually going to be our other teacher, and that they prepare us for a real experience by not telling us that they are fake. But the practice is definitely real. We had a lesson with Orlando (our first investigator) that consisted of having all of us draw pictures of ourselves and write our weaknesses and strengths. Then he showed us how the Atonement can make all of these things stronger. We read scriptures from Alma 7 about the Savior. 

The first week we were visited by our Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leader about every other day. They would often come bearing gifts (the Sisters). The first opportunity that I had to interview the Senior Companions in my District was fantastic. I really got to learn a lot about them and especially their companions. We have devotionals twice a week on Sunday and Tuesday nights. They are really powerful and each of the speakers speaks very powerfully with the Spirit. They have choir practice also on the same days and have the MTC choir (Elders and Sisters) sing together on the Tuesday Devotional. There are so many missionaries that want to do choir that they actually left our district out of one of the devotional choirs because we were a little bit later than everyone else. We also get to watch a church video every Sunday after the devotional. The first one that we watched was of President Bednar, and he spoke on the Character of Christ. This video was so inspiring! It is only shown at the MTC, but is honestly one of the greatest messages anyone could apply to their lives. He speaks about how the Character of Christ is the ability to turn outwards to others just at the point that we feel we want to turn inwards because of the natural man. In times of trial, we need to be like the Savior when He healed the soldier's ear in the Garden of Gethsemane, after experiencing the greatest pain of all time. 

We have to take MTC campus IDs with us everywhere we go to get into places and to get food. One occasion, I could not find mine, and we had decided to leave without it. I thought I had looked everywhere. I had the distinct impression that it was in my shirt pocket from the day before, and I ran with my companion to retrieve it. I realized on the way there that I was acting in faith on an impression from the Spirit. I got to the room, and it was exactly where I was told it would be.

The Provo Temple is about 1000 times more beautiful on the inside than the outside. One day, I met a friendly bee that decided to land on my hand. I carried him for a few hundred feet, and ten let him crawl into a flower. He was so calm. I had another experience like the campus ID one where I was looking for my wallet because I needed my Temple recommend. I couldn't jind it, and everyone was searching everywhere for it. We knelt to pray and I found it very quickly. There are many tender mercies at the MTC. 

I hope that everyone is doing well, and that you are all seeking to develop spiritually. I am praying for David Moss. I love you all and don't forget that love is a verb! You can't just think it. You have to do it! If you do, you will find greater happiness and peace. 

With Love, 

Elder Dazey

Singing in the Missionary Choir at Conference!

The entire West campus is Spanish speaking and we are all going to different countries. My companion and I are going to the same mission. A lot of what has happened in the past few weeks will be in the letter home. It's good that you are reading D and C. I haven't read it all the way through, and I have realized how important it is that I do that.

Since I am sharing things about my stay at the MTC through a physical letter, I wanted to express some of the more spiritual topics, especially the experience of being a member of the MTC Priesthood Session Choir. Our practices began with the director explaining that we would be doing a lot of first in General Conference. We will be the first choir to sing a Medley at General Conference, and we are the first to sing primary songs, (Which are a part of the Medley). The first time I sang the Missionary Medley, it almost brought me to tears. Singing with this choir has been the most spiritual music experience I have ever been a part of. Every song that we sing is truly inspired of God for the world. If you listen closely to the words that we sing, you will feel the power of this profound message. I have grown to love every song that we sing. Take the time to listen to them many times, and ponder over their words. The spirit teaches through music. I testify of this truth. The Missionary Medley consists of four songs, and demonstrates the progression of of young man to missionaries. I will talk about a few of my favorite parts, but you all will have to find the parts that stick out to you. Just thinking of the entire progression, I can see how perfectly this message applies to my life. There is a point in which the choir sings two of the songs simultaneously, and they have been masterfully woven together. In this section the basses sing "We'll Bring The World His Truth."  The song had to be condescend at one point to fit the arrangement, and one line contains the combination of the first and last lines of the song. It says, "We have been born...to bring the world His truth." I am resisting crying just writing this letter. I was born to bring the world his truth. I feel like Joseph Smith when he talks about James 1:5-6 and says that no scripture had entered into the heart of many with such power as this one did to mine. This song, although I can not claim to be more moved by a song than any other person, has moved me to a greater desire for a change of heart. I want to live up to that line. I also wish to speak of the arrangement of "Ye Elders of Israel" that we are singing. This song at first was not as powerful to me until it was explained. Learn about this song, and about Babylon and the glory thereof. This song is a call to all to come and join us on mount Zion, and a last goodbye to our beautiful home in Zion. I am most moved in the final lines when we say for the last time "O Babylon, O Babylon, we bid thee farewell; We're going to the mountains of Ephraim to dwell." I realized that this is a perfect representation of us as missionaries. We are saying goodbye to our own beautiful homes and families to go forth to a better cause, to an even greater, eternal home. In this last line I feel that the entire army of missionaries have now turned away from Babylon and now have their eyes set on the Mountains of Ephraim. There is great joy in this. The music is most beautiful at this point, and the power with which we sing to the world and invite them to come with us is indescribable. Let the Priests now about this, and have them know that we are calling them to join the ranks. Finally I want to relate that I have not had any trouble being homesick. I love and miss you all, but it has not distracted me in the least. However, during one of our Tuesday Devotionals, I felt truly homesick. The speaker decided to focus his talk on the song about the first vision that a teacher's choir sang prior to the meeting. It said something to the effect of asking God if he had nurtured us in our primeval state. I closed my eyes and imagined God taking care of us a spirit children; speaking to us, and laughing with us. I felt homesick for a place I cannot remember. Read scriptures every day. Do family home evening. Pray for the work. Pray in repentance and feel the power of the Atonement. I love you all.

-Elder Dazey