Week 38 - Where does the time go?

Hey everyone! 

I really have 0 time right now sorry! 

But we had such an awesome week this week! So many miracles! I cant even explain it. I wish I had more time to share them all with you. But it was so great, and it went by so fast!

This week we extended invitations to A., and her kids, Jesus, and Jocelyn to be baptized on June 18th! And they accepted! They are all super awesome! I love them so much. They are progressing so well and are super excited to learn more about the gospel. Adela is already almost 100 pages through the Book of Mormon and she always tells us all she learned from her reading!

Ed.  and C.  are as awesome as ever! They are both super excited for their baptism on June 4th! They are reading well, and I love going to their house each time, cause they are just so excited to learn more! 

I dont have too much time left, but we had stake conference this week where all the members from all of Los Cabos got together and we got to hear from President Hinckley from Tijuana, and also from Elder Miron, which was awesome! It was super good to see all the missionaries again! 

-- 

Elder Daines

Dead Scorpion thing at Church

Week 37 - No Unhallowed Hand Can Stop the Work from Progressing

Howdy all!

I had a super awesome first week of the new transfer here in San Jose. It was a great week. The only awful thing is the darn sun! It is killing me. I surrendered to the counsel of Hermana Velez, and started using an umbrella sometimes to block the sun (I recognize that with doing so, I also surrender my dignity, as I have always believed umbrellas are for rain only).

Elder Wright and I were running all around town this week looking for new people to teach and also trying to make it to all the lessons we had. Like normal, some fell through, but we had several really great and powerful lessons. On Friday, we had an awesome lesson with A., and we met her youngest child!  She's 11, and super awesome and excited to learn, too! On Sunday, A., her boyfriend and daughter all came to church with us! S.  was playing soccer, and we dont know exactly why J. didn't come too, but it was awesome to have them all with us! 

We also had a way good lesson with a reference we got from an investigator. We met him and his friend. They have both truly been prepared by God to receive the Gospel in this time. The Gospel is just the perfect answer to every question! 

And another great thing, is that we are moving forward with Ed. and C., the sons from the V. family. They are going to be baptized on June 4th! We are super excited for them. It is so awesome to hear them talk about how excited they are to take the first step towards God in being baptized. 

Don't have too much more time, but I am so grateful for this area and for the innumerable blessings God is pouring out in this area! I know this is God's work. 

-- 

Elder Daines

Casual Skippy Ad

Chicks! 

Week 36 - Feliz Dia de las Madres!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there, you are the bomb! 

I love you, Mom! You're the best mom out there, everyone else that says that is a liar (besides my siblings). I got to see my whole family yesterday on a Facetime call, and it was so awesome!!! I love you all so much! (I didnt even cry this time, haha). 

I had a super awesome week this week! We already came to the end of a transfer. And wow, I had no idea the time could go by so fast! It was unreal. But luckily, Elder Wright and I get to be here together for another 6 weeks! So we are going to keep working super hard and seeing even more miracles in this area. 

This week was so great! One of my favorite weeks of the entire mission. Elder Wright and I have been working super well together, and this week we really focused on getting members to come with us to as many lessons as possible. On Saturday we have 5 lessons with members with us! And they were several different members that came with us. It was so awesome, because our investigators feel a lot more comfortable at church because they already have a friend! 

We have been able to see lots of progress with the people we are teaching. This little colonia we have called Puerto Nuevo is just going crazy, it seems like we know everybody there! Even though our area is pretty big, 90% of the time we are in Puerto Nuevo because of how much progress we are seeing. The Rodriguez family is super excited to keep learning more and preparing for baptism. A. is doing awesome. Sadly we haven't seen her daughter still since that first day, but A. came to church again with us, and this time she brought her son! A guy we have also been teaching for a couple weeks, accepted a baptismal date this week, and came to church with us, and he loved it! 

We are super excited to have this transfer together, and to see all of this success continue. I love this area so much, love my companion, love this people, love God, and love being His servant!

-- 

Elder Daines

His collection! 

Best missionaries ever! 

Wisconsin fam! 

Utah fam! 

Week 35 - Opposition In All Things

Howdy All!

Holy cow! This week was unreal. I had no idea so many difficulties could happen in such a short period of time. It was crazy and at times unbelievable. I got a little bit down at times to see so many struggles going on, but Elder Wright is better than me, and stayed strong and helped lift my spirits!

Even though there were so many tough things that happened, it was one of the greatest weeks of the mission overall. We worked a lot with the members, over half of our lessons for the last two weeks have been with members! That was pretty awesome. 

This week I truly gained a testimony of the importance of family unity. I know that families are ordained of God, they are the most important social unit on the planet! Without families, we would be lost. We had several circumstances this week in which we saw some family problems arise in some of our investigators. I know that the adversary is doing all he can work against the families, because he knows how important they are in God´s plan. We saw this week so many challenges with things impeding our investigators from being baptized, as well as the investigators of other missionaries in our area. We decided to fast on Thursday, and helped so much. Little things started to look up, and more than anything, I just felt more at peace; I had more hope. 

This week we also had one of the coolest experiences ever. We had a couple appointments fall, so we decided to use some extra time to look for people to contact. We saw this lady with her front door open, and Elder Wright decided we should talk to her. So we did! She is super awesome! Her daughter was there was us too, and like we usually do, we were going to try and set an appointment for another day, but as we were pulling our agendas out, the daughter  said "pasenle" (come in!). We were a little surprised, but we went in, and talked to them for a while. We just talked about our basic beliefs that we belong the same Church that Christ established, with the same authority, and the daughter asked, "What does it take to be one of you?" And so we explained a little bit about the preparation process to be a missionary, and she said, "I want to be one!" I think my mouth might have been gaping wide open when she said that..but it was so so so cool! She is really looking to find the true Church of Christ, she has looked in various religions, and has never felt they were right, but in that moment, she felt the influence of the Spirit. So cool!!! I am super excited for her. 

Sunday might have been the best day ever. 1) Because it was Brendan´s birthday, happy birthday B!! Can't believe youre 18 already. 2) FOURTEEN people came to church with us! It was so so awesome! I didnt know who to sit by haha, but luckily because we had a couple hermanadores (English?) some members sat with the others. 3) We had our Fast Sunday, where anyone can speak at the pulpit, and I was sitting with our investigators, the V. family, and their little 9 year old boy tells me, "Quiero tomar el micrófono" (Basically, I wanna talk!) I told him, lets go! Ill help you! But he was super nervous, saying I don't know what to say! But he eventually got the courage and he had me help him know what to say, and it was so cool! He isn't even a member of the church yet, but he knows Christ lives, God loves him, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that he wants to be baptized. And then after him, like 8 more kids followed him! It was so awesome! And to finish, the Sister missionaries´ investigator also shared his testimony of the Church. It was the best thing ever!! Such an awesome Sunday. 

Sadly this is already the last week in the transfer, and maybe Elder Wright will be changed, but fingers crossed we get another six weeks together! I feel we have more work to do together!

Family and friends, I know that God strengthens us in our afflictions. He will never give us more than we can bear; and if we endure these trials well, He blesses more than you can believe! For that reason, I know God loves me, and each one of you. And I am so super grateful to be here in the service of the Lord.  

-- 

Elder Daines

My District

The "V" family's little boy! 

Pretty View

Week 34 - Believe in Others

Hey everyone!

I had such a good week this week. We worked super hard this week and had several more lessons this week than we have had so far. And we also had lots of members come with us this week to lessons with investigators, it was so cool! It was so awesome to have their added testimonies to ours, and it really helped the investigators have a friend in church. 

This week I had something that made me super happy. So we have been teaching the R. family for a few weeks now, and they are progressing great. That makes me super happy but that’s not the thing I was going to share, haha. Sometimes in the lessons, one of their friends friend, JC was with us. The first time we came to the R. house, he headed to a different room, the second time he stayed and listened to us, the third time he participated with us and read with us in the Book of Mormon. But then two weeks ago we didn’t see him the whole week. But last Wednesday we were teaching the R. family, and right as we were about to finish JC showed up! He joined us for the prayer, and I invited him to come to church with us on Sunday. He said he would go, and I was happy to hear that, but not going to lie (and I know I shouldn’t) but I kind of just brushed it off, figuring he would probably forget about it. But guess who was there to greet us at the door on Sunday?! The R. family and JC! They got to church like 40 minutes early, and they stayed for all three hours! It was super awesome, and I am just so excited for him because I have seen this change in him!

We had several other awesome lessons this week with some people we have been teaching for a few weeks, as well as some new people we found! Also, on Friday, we had an awesome activity at church called Mission Night, and we played Jeopardy, based on basic gospel truths. It was so awesome! We had like 10 investigators show up, and also some less active members! It was so awesome and it was a great way to increase the love and unity in our ward, and also a good way for the members to get to know the investigators some more! 

Ah!! It was just such an awesome week, and I am so happy to be here! I love the mission so much!! I know this is God's work, and I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know it!

-- 

Elder Daines

"REPRESENT!"

"Failed jumping picture."