Some weeks are harder than others

So this week was good. I don't have my Journal with me, so I can't promise that I'll remember that much. It was very different from last week. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't great. It was weaker in some aspects and stronger in others. We've done a lot more contacting this last week. One sister gave us 13 references! I wish that all members were like that. She really had a spirit about her, and she has a lot of faith. It is so important what the members do in this work. In Preach My Gospel it says that the ideal situation is that missionaries never have to find investigators, but that the members bring investigators to them. We don't tract in this mission. Elder Sosa and I have not dedicated any time to tracting. If we feel inspired, we talk to someone, but all of our investigators come from references that we get from the members. If you can focus all of your efforts in always serving in missionary work, temple work, and perfecting the saints, you will see yourself walking with Christ, and you will know with a surety how Chellie and I are doing.  

I also told Benji about another story in my letter: President Marsh also told us about a crew team that he had read about recently. They won the Olympics in the 1930's. He said that if you look at what it takes for a crew team to win, it is kind of interesting because they all sit backwards and can't see where they are going or where the competition is. He said that they have to rely on the one guy that is sitting at the front of the boat who can see and give directions as to how hard to pull, which way to go to avoid other teams and when to speed up to race towards the end. That one person on the team can see what is coming. He can see what it takes to get to the end and he said that if we view Christ as our lead person, and are willing to take our cues from him and let him tell us what we need to do to avoid the obstacles ahead, that the path will be so much easier to get to the end. I loved that analogy. And Benji said: I really like that anology too.

(Benji's letter continues) Yesterday our building was Dedicated. Elder Sosa and I walked in an hour early and saw the stake choir singing. I had to join  So we sang with them for the dedication. It was very nice. This week we went to exchanges although we didn't have a change. Elder Sosa wanted to say goodbye to a previous companion who was leaving the mission. Our district changed a lot this week and we have a new district leader. All of the new missionaries in our district are nice. Our district leader is cool. Today we went back to the Centro and ate some more 5 peso tacos  It was good. Anyway, sorry that I don't have my journal this week, I'll try to remember it.

Love,

Elder Dazey

Soooo Many Blessings!

That's so great that you got so much done this week. It's sad to hear about sister Scottin's mom. That is so great to hear about Alex bearing his testimony at church. Needless to say, I shed a few tears on that one, thanks. I hope he can keep it up. That quote is beautiful. I've learned so much about Jesus Christ the last week. I've been reading in matthew and trying to prepare myself for christmas. I love the church movie, El es la Dadiva (He is the Gift). They gave us cards for that video to pass to everyone, I imagine that you have already seen them. I'm glad you enjoyed the prank. I did have an adjustment period to the water and food, but I don't have to share it ;D Just know that I'm alive, and Preaching the gospel. also that period is basically over. I haven't had problems for weeks. Tell Aaron I love him, and good luck at his concert. If you can, have him write something in your letter. Sorry I didn't write yesterday, We had to pick up a new missionary to take him to our house and let him stay with us the night before changes, so we are writing now. So this week was the best week I've had my whole mission. We got done with one day, and Elder Sosa even said that that day was the best day he's had his whole mission. We got the lists of members our president asked us to get last week, and we have worked on little things that we can do to be more obedient. Just updating our area book and having amazing planning sessions that are really focused on our investigators being a few of the things. I really do know Spanish. No joke. I plan to speak like a native by the time I get out, Because I can already understand almost everything, and God isn't holding back the gift of tongues. We we're given a new reference this week of a family that lives in our neighborhood. We have had two lessons with them, and they want to be baptized. They are both about 20, and need to get married to get baptized, but they have the desire. They really want to go to church, but they have had to work on sundays, so we will teach keeping the sabbath day holy. The "wife" read the first pamphelet just because they both liked us. Our second lesson with them was only with him, but he talked about how much he felt that we were already his friends. At the end we asked him who his best friend was (To get references) And he talked about someone across the street who he thought was his best friend, but now that guy smokes pot and is lame. He said that he thinks that pretty soon we will be his best friends. So far they are almost golden investigators, we just have a few problems to work through. 
We were with a Married couple in the ward to go to an appointment with a family, but they weren't there. We knocked on their door, and their neighbor answered. We told her that we were looking for her neighbors, and she said okay, and went back to what she was doing. We remembered that we had done that before, that we had gone to that house, and that that sister who just answered the door was open to recieve us. The problem was that we hadn't had another man with us at the time, so we couldn't go in because it was just her and her baby, but this time we were prepared because we had this couple with us. We knocked her door this time, and she recieved us. We talked to her, and she said that she was almost always alone, and that she enjoyed our company. She spoke of problems that her brothers baby was having, and we taught of God and Families. I invited her to baptism, and she accepted. The members that were with her offered to take her to church. She went to church this past sunday. She was a miracle. We wouldn't have taught her if they hadn't been there, and she was ready to recieve us in that moment, and we had the people we needed to enter. Our other lessons were very guided by the spirit. An invertigator that wasn't really progressing before became excited to hear the restoration, accepted baptism, and her kids, who previously didn't have any desire to go to church, were excited to attend. They couldn't this week because of some work problems, but hopefully we can get at least a few of them to come with us this week. We have served this part week. We learned a scripture (Nephi 10.22) And we applied it. Y el espiritu santo me da autoridad(and the Holy Spirit gives me the Authority) para que declare estas cosas, (to declare these things)y no las retenga. (And deny them not. ) We spoke with power from the holy ghost. We taught about family history, and felt the spirit of Elijah. This week has been full of miracles. We have had entire days of lessons that were entirely guided by the spirit. It was amazing.
I love you all. And I hope that in this Christmas season you all can discover, accept, and share the Gift that is Jesus the Christ. My studies have been so powerful the past week as I have studied the life of Christ. I am so excited for this season. I've had more gifts this Christmas than I could imagine.
Love, 
Elder Dazey

Missionaries are Pranksters!

 Thanksgiving I had exchanges. It was a normal day. But that's fine. I love it. I love the food. I don't like citas that fall through. I don't like being disobedient. We don't do dinner. We do comida (2 oclock) We have it with members every day but p day. (Needless to say our Relief Society president is the boss) I should be with Elder Sosa for my entire training (3 months) We are more in the city. I'm going to try to send some pictures today. It is all hills here. We live in a very large neighborhood called Galaxia. We actually spent a few hours in the Centro (downtown) today. It was super cool. Giant cathedrals, stores, 5 peso tacos (so good) It was cool. My Spanish? I'll let you guys tell me on Christmas ;D I'm at a level of Spanish that is hard for me to imagine. Every day I think about the fact that I speak a second language. The spirit helps a lot. We have 6 missionaries in our ward. It is cold when we run in the morning. BTW I've been pretty fit lately. Elder Sosa and I work out for realz. We're trying to be Nephites, because in every picture of a nephite they are huge. Well I'm glad Pappap is ok :D He's such a good guy. Tell him and everyone else that I love them. I had a dream with him in it.  Thanks for the scripture. I really like that one. Have you all seen the He is the gift video? (El es la Dadiva) It is awesome. Could you share stories of our ancestors? It can be anything from anyone. Your Mom, Dad's parents. Anything. I'd like to know more. I'm going to fill out my My Family pack this week. Can you and dad write a short autobiography of your lives for my pack?  I've had a good week. We had a lot of meetings this week, and We didn't have very good numbers this week because we had those meetings and a last minute move with the sister missionaries. Everything has been going well we are working harder. We did finally get some member lists that president has been asking us for. I love you guys. I hope everything goes well preparing for Navidad.

- My companion and our district leader did exchanges the other day, and left the toilet covered in poop. They filmed me seeing it. IT WAS A NIGHTMARE. They told me after that it was a chocolate, oatmeal, ketchup, jello mixture :D I'll try to send the pictures. :D

Love you too Dad,

Elder Dazey

Learning About Christ

I told Benji: To Start out, We invited two families to church for yesterday and Julia invited a few friends and no one came. Well, as Dad said, it was 'invite a friend to church Sunday' not 'make sure your friend gets to church' Sunday. Oh, well, we tried.

And He responded: Well you did what you could. You invited and you followed up. It sounds like you're a great missionary to me :D Tell Pappap I love him and to get better. It would probably be good if at some point he recieved a priesthood blessing. I'm so glad he's doing well though.

 I also told Benji about Julia's All County Band Concert and how she has been invited to be in All County Orchestra and his response was: 

Woah Julia. Dang. You go girl! That sounds like it was an awesome concert! I was so surprised looking at my family tree and seeing some of the work that you had done. It really is wonderful.

I also share the following story with Benji.

 I have started reading an article  where the man said that he took his family to see paintings Christ that were lined up in the order of His life. Each family member described what was happening in a painting and when it got to the Dad's turn, he saw the picture of Christ on the cross and said that this was where Christ died. His two little children said, 'No Daddy. He is alive.' He says:      I stooped down to ask them to use their quiet voices and to explain more about the Crucifixion. That’s when I saw what they were seeing. From their angle, we could see on the glass partition the reflection of one painting superimposed on another painting. One was the painting of the Lord on the cross, and the other was the painting of His Resurrection. In both paintings His arms are stretched out, in the one on the cross and in the other as He is leaving the tomb. When I first saw the paintings imposed one on the other, it startled me. In that moment the images seemed to match perfectly. It seemed as if I were looking at the Savior’s spirit leaving His body on the cross.

Upon closer inspection I discovered the illusion, then enjoyed looking at each painting separately—The Crucifixion and The Resurrection. But the memory of the two paintings superimposed is imprinted on my mind. In a single view, they encapsulated the Lord’s condescension and His transcendent glory. And in one moment, the reality of the Crucifixion and of the Resurrection was confirmed by the Spirit in my heart and soul.       

BENJI SAID: I Loved that! Seeing Christ through the eyes of his children helped him see revelations about the Savior that had never come to him before! That story is awesome. I love it. I have been reading Jesus the Christ and I want to focus my studies on his life this next month leading up to christmas. 

For Christmas,  I would also like hand written letters from you all with your testimony and favorite scripture about the savior. I want to see how you all prepared yourselves to have a spiritual Christmas season. My greatest present will be talking to you all on Christmas. Thank you so much for all of your spiritual and financial support for my mission. You already give so much.

Love,

Elder Dazey

PS. As for my week, we worked a lot more with members this week. Our main investigators are progressing step by step. We had a lesson with a family this week, and the invited others from their church and wouldn't let us share our message. They had antimormon literature and 4 bibles already open to scriptures upon our entrance. Needless to say, we left quickly. It was the saddest feeling I've had so far, to see people so contentious. But it taught me a good lesson about finding people that are prepared. We are helping a few families prepare to be sealed in the temple. Its awesome. We are getting better and better at teaching, and our lessons are overall very good.We are working with members more and more. Love your missionaries. Help them as much as you can. They can't do their job without you. I love you all, and I'll try to remember to bring my journal next week to write more specific information.

Prayers and Miracles

We have been talking a lot about family history lately. Keep it up Mom! You're the best! That makes me so happy. Like SO HAPPY. 

We've been trying to pray with more effort after a presentaion from the Assistants in our mission. They told us that we would pray around 22,000 times on our missions, and that we needed to make every single one good enough to bring miracles just as prayers brought miracles in the scriptures.

I told Benji a story that we were told in Ward Council as a spiritual message on gratitude. It was a talk that someone read where a man had his family would literally take inventory of all of the things that they had on their farm every Thanksgiving. It was for them all to 'count their blessings. One year the crops failed and he had to sell all of their livestock to be able to eat. Everyone was doing that so they didn't get a very good price for them. This was also the year that they happened to have electricity added to their farmhouse. He killed a jack rabbit for their dinner and his wife was unhappy because those were tough and took a lot of hard work to cook them right. The only crop they did have were turnips. Which were usually bitter. The kids looked at the dinner and refused to eat. The mom was in tears because she had worked so hard on it. The Dad proceeded ask the kids to get the old oil lamp out and they lit it and then he went around and turned off all of the light bulbs. They were amazed at how dark it got and that they could even see their dinner before. As they gave thanks for the meal and started to eat it, the rabbit was delicious and the turnips were the sweetest they had ever tasted! So many blessings! So much to be thankful for! 

So Benji's response was: Thanks for that story. I am working on having more gratitude in my heart. It helps me keep my mind on the work. It's awesome to see how our success in the area is directly related to our obedience.

You all are having a Stake wide Family History Fair?  (Mexican whistle thing) ESSSSSOOOOOOOO! That's so cool! I want to do more family history. Hopefully we can work it into our schedule.

   I invited a friend of mine to an 'Invite a friend to church day' and Benji said: I'm so glad you could invite Jennifer. That's exactly how it works Mom. God will always bless you as you are praying and searching. Keep up the good work. It's awesome to see all that you do as we work more with our Relief Society President. You really are a big help to those missionaries. They need you.  

  I saw a woman with her son this week, and I was feeling just a little sick that day (and you know how emotional I can get when I am sick) Her son reminded me so much of Alex. I didn't get to talk to them, but my companion did (It was on the bus) but I loved them so easily. I was almost crying. I have thought a lot about Alex this week. I told Benji: You know I was talking to someone recently and without even thinking about it much before I said it, told them that Alex doesn't know how to lie. He doesn't know manipulation or deceit. Although he can be difficult sometimes, he is so much more pure in Spirit that we 'normal people'. He is truly blessed! And so are we. I said that one day when we get up to Celestial Kingdom, he is going to be radiant, and he is going to look at us and say, 'This is me. I couldn't tell you before but this is the true me. Thank you for loving me.'

Benji said: Thank you for sharing that thought about the Celestial Kingdom with me.

  

I shared this quote with him. 

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

―  Martin Luther King Jr. He said: That is a beautiful quote. Tell Daniel He is doing a great job with missionary work and to keep up the good work. 

Love,

Elder Dazey

IBenji said they were having a hard time getting members of the Ward to come out to their teaching appointments and I told him that the Sister missionaries here have a calendar of the upcoming week with them each Sunday that they pass around and people can sign up for times when they have time available. By the time church is over, their calendar is usually full! So Benji said:  P.s. You're advice last week was gold. We have a schedule full of member present lessons. My companion wants to kiss you for helping us.

Loving the Work

In my letter to Benji this week, I told him this story:Today in RS we were talking about missionary work and Sister Torgersen said that at one point during her husband's guitar making and selling business, he was having a lot of people coming into their home who looked very different than the people that they would see at church. She said that they were all nice people and it was interesting to get to know a lot of them. Years later, now that her sons have gone on missions, they write back and tell her that they are very grateful for the lessons their parents taught them about getting to know and love people for who they are on the inside and not for what they look like on the outside. There have been times that one of her sons has felt inspired to go up to someone to talk about the Gospel and their companion has said that he wasn't sure about that person because they look a little "Sketchy". And Elder Torgersen's response was "And? That should stop us?"
She says that she has always told them to 'Look on the heart and not on outward experiences when approaching people about the gospel.' I thought that that sounded like very wise words and something that might help you on your mission. Benji's said in his letter:
Thanks for the story from Sister Torgerson. My Spanish is getting a lot better. The more humble I am, and the more that I listen, the more that I learn. Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll share them with Elder Sosa, and hopefully we can apply them. There wasn't much Day of the Dead in Galaxia (my área) Elder Sosa says that in other places there is a lot more. Mostly I just saw kids trick or treating for a few days straight.
The misión is going great. Elder Sosa Works hard, and I like to work hard too, so we are pretty obedient (though there is a lot to improve, always :D) We are helping one family prepare to be sealed in the temple, and our lesson with them was really cool this week. I love working. I want to learn everything that Elder Sosa does so that I can be better. Today we had a really cool activity with our zone. We literally played sports and ate pizza. It's great to take a break and play soccer and stuff. Weird how much more I like sports now. Elder Sosa and I were looking at some church paintings, and noticed that all of the righteous people were super buff. So our goal is do be nephites, because all of the most righteous people are buff, right?
Teaching is great. The church is true. Mexico is better every day. I love you Mom!
-Elder Dazey

Getting started in Mexico

My companion is from Querétaro, Mexico. He only speaks Spanish. It´s great :D So, I taught a lot in the MTC, but for some reason I have a harder time here. (Probably because I can only follow 60-80 percent of the conversation) But I have contacted someone on the bus without my companions help. He is starting to ask me to do a lot. It´s not that I can´t teach, it´s that I don´t always know what the last thing they said was. We will have a lesson tonight though, and I will teach a lot of it. Sacrament was good. The people are nice. We really just need people to accompany us to appointments and things.

 People don´t believe me at first and then I explain. Usually a missionary from The USA will say something like "Haha! A mexican that doesn´t speak Spanish" They like to make jokes ;D  Elder Sosa is super service oriented. He finds every opportunity to serve me, and I´m trying to be more like him.  

We have a Little apartment house thing. Two stories, 1 bedroom, 1 Bathroom, kitchen/study área.  All of the lessons that the sisters before us set up, fell through. We´re gonna baptize them all though :D  We need to find these people. We don´t have many to teach yet. So far I don't need a bike, in answer to your question. 

 I was studying today and thought about how the first principles of the góspel are like a pyramid, and that you have to have a foundation of Faith in order to have the desire and power to repent. Build Faith and Love for Christ, and anyone can repent of anything. I love you guys. Tell Julia to keep up her scripture reading. There is another Elder in my district that did marching band. Tell Aaron that kids everywhere are the same. The boys were playing Minecraft in the bathroom at Church on Sunday ;) Tell Alex I love him, and that I think about him a lot. My wards name is Margarita, which means 'daisy' in Spanish.  Haha. They think it´s cute that I´m a ¨Daisy¨

With Love,

Elder Dazey