Here is the email I got from Daylen today. He's serving a mission in Minnesota right now.
Hello everyone from all over the world. I know you've all been
dying to hear from me about this past week. But so you know, it's just
as crazy as the previous weeks just in different ways. So Tuesday was
the first time I've ridden a bike in about 3 years. (I tried to get him to go on a bike ride with me so many times but he wouldn't.) It was great to be
back on but I was still cautious because of recent events that happened
before I left Utah, (He got hit by a car while riding his bike in like 10th grade, in fact, he got $5000 for the damages and stuff and that is actually paying for most of his mission) plus there was an inch of snow on the ground and I
didn't want to recreate that event. Needless to say though, my butt was
hurting after 5 minutes of riding because my seat is so solid. :P Then
when we played basketball that night, I actually played decently.
Everyone said it's because I wear my g's when I play.(I have no idea what g's are) Yes, I where them
when I play, don't judge! Then we had district meeting the next morning.
It was crazy because we had it at 8 instead of 10. The reason for that
is because one of the Waconia ward members came and made us breakfast at
9 and then we went and sang carols in the chapel. For any of you chefs
that like to try new things, he made his eggs with cream cheese. They
were really good, but I still prefer my mom's eggs with milk and
Lawry's. :) After that we went home so we could exchange with the AP's
(Assistants to the President). Most stressful day of my life!!! 1. It
was the AP's. 2. It was Elder Tuna Fish.(No that's not his real name) 3. I was staying in Chaska. It
was nuts! This basically means I was staying in my area, which I was
still figuring out where everything was, and was in charge of all the
lessons. Things were fine though. After we exchanged we went and caroled
at a senior home in Minnetonka. The only nice thing I thought that
Elder Tuna Fish was there, because he plays the piano very well. Then we
went to the library to do service. We found 0/150? lost books in 2 1/2
hours. Then we went tracting (door knocking) until 5. He had weird
methods of finding. He had me imagine a perfect investigator family,
then we prayed to find those people with that description. At this point
I thought this guy was crazier than the Mad Hatter. We knocked and
caroled and only managed to give away 1 pass along card. Typical days
tracting here in Chaska. Then we went to our dinner appointment with the Whale's. (Let's stick with the underwater theme.) Wonderful family who met in BYU. I think that everyone I
meet here knows where South Jordan is, just because they went to BYU.
That and there is hundreds of BYU fans up here!! After dinner we asked
if he'd be willing to join us in an appointment. The rules are, that we
must have someone else with us when we teach a single female. So he
joined us as we went and taught Ariel (as in the little mermaid). A single lady who's in her mid
50's from Vegas. Here's where the cool part comes in. As we started to
teach Ariel her roommate came and sat in on our lesson. His name is Flounder and he had a lot of questions. So as I talked to Ariel about
some of the things she read, Elder Tuna Fish and Brother Whale started
talking to Flounder. In no more than 2 minutes they started listening to
what Ariel and I were discussing. It turns out that they have a lot of
the same questions, but they bash each other and don't let the other
one speak. So cool part is that we got a new investigator and a
fellow-shipper for him, but bad part is that we have to teach them
separately and they live in the same little apartment. After we went and
taught King Trident. We had a really cool scripture study session that answered
some of his prayers. It was really amazing and inspired. Then he gave
Elder Companion (still on exchanges) and I our Christmas presents. (A card
with $50 and DQ Blizzards) Then we went back home. The next morning, I
got all my packages from the office. Elder Companion and Elder Boat came
in with them when we exchanged back. Elder Companion and I then proceeded
to decorate our Christmas wall, clean our apartment, weekly plan. After
we went Christmas shopping where another tender mercy happened. We went
to Goodwill (DI/Thrift Store in Utah) and saw a member that was in the
Minnetonka ward before the boundaries changed. She recognized Elder Companion and as a Christmas present gave us $50. The missionaries weren't
lying when they said that being a missionary could be a job! While she
was getting change, cashier started talking to me...more like trying to
flirt with me. We started talking about the church and we gave her a
pass along card and told her to go check out the new church video. After
we finished our Christmas shopping, we went home and wrapped presents
before heading off to the Eel's for the night. We had a wonderful
dinner! We had fondue. So there were oil pots in the middle of the table
and we could fry different things in it. It was really good, but I
think I undercooked mine, because I didn't feel good later that night.
But we had a fun time. We had a talent show, then we read the Christmas
story and sang carols in between, and then we played a game of
Aggravation/Dirty Marbles. We did get presents and I won't say them, but
you can see them when I send out pictures. Christmas day was the same.
The Waconia elders stayed with us since their activities for the day
were out our way. So we got up and made them breakfast. Then we opened
presents. Elder Companion and I ended up getting more because Sister Salmon
came and brought us presents from the ward. Then we went to the
Octopus's (Octopi, Octopice?) for brunch, more presents and Skyping. I will say it was a
little weird Skyping my family, but those feelings quickly left as we
started talking. It was wonderful to see everyone. I even saw my grandpa
who I was not expecting to see over there! So you know we only had
about 45 minutes to Skype then we had to bear our testimonies for the
last 5 minutes. Shortest hour of my life!!! It went by so fast that we
dragged it out for ten minutes more than allotted. Then we went back to
the apartment so the other elders weren't alone for very long, then we
went to the Jellyfish's for Christmas Dinner. Such amazing food here! I
feel like I never left home with how good it is. Then Saturday came. King Trident's baptism went wonderfully!! We woke up to about 6 inches of snow
downtown! So happy it came, but we could have used that yesterday!! We
filled the font which happened to be two hours shorter than we
thought. Apparently the top step has an emergency drain, so when the
ordinance happened it only went to mid thigh on them. We had to baptize
him twice because the water was so low. Better than doing it in a frozen
lake!
Guys, I know this church is true and I know that Christ was sent
here to atone for our sins. I know that he runs his church today through
Thomas S Monson and that he restored his church through Joseph Smith.
And I know that we can all follow the example of Jesus Christ by being
baptized by priesthood authority and that we can renew those covenants
every Sunday by partaking of the sacrament. I love each and every one of
you and thank you all for your prayers and sacrifices. Stay true!
--
--
Elder Daylen
Aint' he a cutie? I try to get him to put more personal stuff but... Oh well.Love him anyways.
1 comment:
Since we are serving a MLS mission right now and work with the Elders and Sisters; I love this post. Loved to hear about missionary service. Hugs~
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