Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! It was such a wonderful Christmas this year! It made me so happy to be in the same ward I was last Christmas, and to be able to spend it with my 2 awesome companions who I love dearly! And I also got to Skype my family which was such a huge blessing! :)

We got to go to the LA Temple this week and it was so much fun! I love going to the temple. There is such a spirit of peace inside, and I can always feel Heavenly Father's love for me there so strongly. It's like he is telling me "It's ok. I am here and I love you, and you don't need to worry so much about everything else. Just trust in me and everything will work out the way it needs to."

Here is a picture of us in front of the biggest Christmas tree I have ever seen.

On Christmas we went to go visit Richard and we ended up playing pool with him. He is super good at pool! He was also very sassy, it was hilarious! 

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One year ago today is also the day that he got baptized!! It makes me so happy to know that he is still active and that he still loves the Gospel so much. He seems to be so much happier than he used to be, it really has shown me how the Gospel can help people even when they are already living Christ-like lives. So many people think they are satisfied with life,and that they already have a good enough relationship with Christ, but they don't know that there is so much MORE happiness that the Lord wants to give them, which can only be found in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Love you all!

Sister Daelemans

The Circle of (mission) Life

I am back in Lancaster! I thought it would feel like constant Deja Vu, but it really just feels comfortable, like I never left. It is a pretty cool feeling!

I am in a trio with Sister Breinholt, who has been out for about 11 months, and Sister Crowley, who has been out for 6 weeks! Sister Crowley is super fresh on the mission, so she is filled with enthusiasm about everything! It's pretty great :) We are having a BLAST! Sister Crowley was already in Lancaster 1st, and Sister Breinholt was in Juniper ward (which meets in the same church building) but the person who was supposed to be her companion in Juniper went home right before transfers because she was sick, so that is why we are in a trio. It ALSO means that we are covering both wards. THIS WAS THE BUSIEST WEEK I HAVE EVER HAD ON MY WHOLE MISSION! It was both wonderful and super stressful. I am also super exhausted. We have so many investigators right now, but so far most of them seem super flaky, but that's ok because there are also a couple of gems that I'm sure are going to get baptized! But Nobody came to church (hence the flakiness) but WE WILL GET THEM TO CHURCH IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!

I was so excited this week because I got to see all 3 of my recent converts who I taught and who got baptized while I was here a year ago.

-Richard: The other sisters had told him that I was coming back, so he greated me and said he was glad to see me again, but I don't think he actually recognized me, because at one point he mixed up me and Sister Breinholt. But that's ok, he is 81 now and already had a bad memory when I was here before, so I was prepared for it. He is just as sweet as ever, and he now has a calling in the ward as the one who greets people at church and passes out the programs!

-Levi: His family actually moved out of the area to the other side of town, but the Dasslers (his grandparents) invited us over for dinner when they were having a family Christmas get-together, so I got to see him! He said "It's been so long since I saw you!" Haha, he told me he forgot what my name was but I told him it was ok. He was excited to see me and told me all about how he is now in the 4th grade and all his classmate are his friends. :)

-Rita: Rita has not been going to church the past couple of months. I left her a note saying that I was back and then we texted her and texted her a time to come over. I guess she forgot my name as well (lol, nobody can say my name or remember it, but that's ok) because when she opened the door when we came for our appointment she was super surprised! She was so happy to see me though and we talked for a while about why she stopped coming to church. We are going to start visiting her again and hopefully get her back to church.

There are a ton of other things that happened this week, with the investigators we found, but I am running out of computer time! (Being in Tehachapi really spoiled me because there were enough computers there for all of the missionaries, but in Lancaster we have assigned email times and there are currently some elders hanging around breathing down our necks, waiting for us to be done with the computers. :P )

This week is going to be so awesome. We have lots of people to go teach and we are going to the LA Temple on Wednesday and of course.......CHRISTMAS!!!!

Love you all! Have a very Merry Christmas!

Sister Daelemans

Back to the Beginning

What a week this has been!

I guess I should start with the news that I am getting transferred. After 8 months in good ol' Tehachapi, I am leaving. It makes me sad to go. I was hoping to stay for Christmas, but the really awesome good news is that I am going back to my greenie area! I will be serving this next transfer in Lancaster 1st ward, which was my very first area on the mission! I am so sad to leave, but happy to be going somewhere for Christmas where I already know and love the people. And I am MOST excited to be able to see my recent converts there again!! :) I will be in a trio with 2 other sisters.

It was so funny when we got the transfer calls. We had been waiting anxiously all evening to find out what was going to happen, and finally the APs called. Sister Gallacher answered the phone: "Hello, this is Sister Gallacher and Sister Daelemans!!!" "Hello, this is Elder Bennett." And then........Sister Gallacher dropped the phone and it fell apart! She hurriedly but the battery back in and turned the phone back on, but it seemed to take an eternity. Most suspenseful moment of my life! We called them back and then they gave us the news.

This weekend was also the Tehachapi Creche Festival! I can't remember if I have mentioned this before, but a "creche" is just a nativity. The church building was full of nativities on display and there was also live musical performances from members of the church and members of the community all day Saturday and after church on Sunday. It was a big hit! We had a lot of people from the community show up and they seemed to really enjoy themselves. We were there most of the time as docents. There was also a live nativity with animals, which they recruited us to be a part of because I guess nobody else wanted to sit out in the cold for 20 minute shifts. Their loss. It was super fun!! I was a shepherd. :) Christmas really is the most amazing time of year to celebrate the birth AND atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ, and I think it was such a wonderful opportunity to show people of other faiths, who sometimes wrongly judge us and our beliefs, that everything we do really is centered around Jesus Christ! :)

For the Creche festival, our mission president wanted all of the missionaries in Tehachapi to sing a song. So they made us the very last performers Sunday night. The only trouble is that when we got together to practice the day before, our singing was atrocious. Imagine 2 sisters on melody who sing so quietly you can't hear them, me and another sister on harmony (the other sister was practically belting, so that's probably why you couldn't hear the melody), 1 elder attempting to sing the melody but completely off-pitch, and 1 elder who I'm pretty sure was just lip-syncing. I was sure it was going to be a disaster. But, when we got up in front of everyone Sunday night to sing, it somehow sounded really good! Sister Gallacher said it was because Jesus was singing with us, lol! It was a Christmas miracle!

The somewhat sad news of the week is that we are no longer teaching Hong and Mike. We have been teaching them every single week since I got to this area in August, and they have been reading and praying and coming to church. They have even been living the Word of Wisdom for the past 2 months. I love them and their children so much! But Hong has always struggled with faith, and throughout the whole teaching process she constantly flipped back and forth between leaning more on her faith and leaning more on her doubts. The week before last she told us she wanted to stop taking the lessons, but we still went over and taught them because Mike really wanted to get baptized and we had to finish the lessons with him. Hong sat in on the lesson. Then this week she texted us and said she wanted to get baptized! We were so flabbergasted. Sister Gallacher and I just sat there for probably 3 minutes, and all we could say was "Wait...What?!" In our lesson with them this week we set a goal for baptism on December 31. And we taught them the Law of Tithing. Mike was all for it, and Hong seemed to take it pretty well and said she was willing to give it a try. She told us that she realized she needed to give the Lord 100% in order to show him that she really is sincere. I was walking on clouds! She had finally gotten there! But then the next morning she texted us and said that she had changed her mind, and that they were both officially out. She said they just could not pay tithing, that it was too much for them, and that they wouldn't be coming to church anymore. I was so sad. I don't think I have loved or cared for anyone else on my mission more than them. But I know that there is nothing more we could have done. We literally gave them, and the Lord, everything we could. But I am ok with it now. I said goodbye to them yesterday, and Hong said that she hopes to someday get there. She still has the desire. And it might take them being away from church for a while for her to feel the difference in her life and to realize what an impact it actually had. Mike seemed kind of sad. He was completely ready for baptism, but they were in it together as a family so he isn't going to get baptized or go to church without his wife. Hong told me that she has learned so much from me, but I told her that if she only remembers one thing, it is how much Heavenly Father loves her. I hope she knows that and can feel it. Sorry to end this on a sad note. I am not sad. Even though this was disappointing, the Lord has filled me with peace. All I feel for them is love and hope. :)

And now, I go back to the beginning. I have 3 transfers to go, and I will most likely spend them in the same area where I spent my first 3 transfers. I could not sleep the night that they told us, my mind just kept racing and thinking about all the people I will be able to see again. I have often thought to myself what I would have done differently in my first area if I had known then what I know now. I did my best when I was there, and that's all the Lord expects of me. But I have learned and grown so much since that time. I want to make my last months as a missionary mean the most. I feel so blessed to be in the Lord's service, to serve him and his children. I remember the hard times at the beginning of my mission, when I could not image spending the next 18 months knocking on people's doors. It seemed like it would be an eternity. But the time has flown by. Looking back I realize how much I have learned and how much I have grown from both the difficult times and the good ones, and I think about what would have happened if I had given up any of the many times when things were really difficult. I would have missed out on so many joy!

Have a wonderful Christmas season and remember Christ in all that you do! :) 

Sister Daelemans

Christmas is in the Air!

It is December, which means that Christmas is in the air! We have helped decorate 3 Christmas trees this week, which was pretty fun.

We also watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. If you missed it you can watch it on lds.org. The messages were all wonderful and it was a great reminder of what Christmas is truly about!

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I also chopped my hair off last Monday.

 

Sorry it's a short one this week! Not much too exciting to report on :)

​Much Love,

Sister Daelemans

"I Am a Child of God"

This past weekend the "moisture," also known as rain, continued to fall from the sky. It was cold and miserable, but really not as bad as it could have been. Except the members kept warning us to be careful, as if we were in the middle of a blizzard or something. Um, ok. I think it was just Californian paranoia. They don't seem to understand cold weather.

Thanksgiving was good. We had two dinner appointments, but thankfully the second family we went to knew that we had already had dinner, so they didn't try to offer us more food. Just more dessert. It was a good day, though not the same as being home. I realized that between two years on my mission and three years in school, this was the fifth year in a row that I have been away for the holiday. It was a weird realization. I have a lot to be grateful for though, so I can't complain.

We had exchanges this past week. Exchanges are when we switch companions for 24 hours with another set of sisters. The sister I was with used to be in the area I'm in now, so it was pretty cool because we went to go see a bunch of people she had been working with when she was here. She will be going home soon, and is such an absolutely fantastic missionary it just blew my mind. I hope to be half as amazing as she is by the time I'm going home. Don't worry, I'm not comparing myself to other people, just learning from others and trying to find ways to better serve the Lord!

While we were on exchanges a lady in the ward called and asked us to sing at a funeral. Random. But I guess a lot of people were out of town for the holiday so she was panicking because she couldn't find anyone to participate in the program. Good thing the sister I was with on exchanges is a music major and can harmonize like a boss. We sang "I Am a Child of God." Usually I am not a fan of this song, because we sing it all the time and it is so cliched. But it really was a special moment being able to sing it for the family that was grieving. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we really are children of God. We say that so often that I think we take for granted what it means. So many people in the world are lost and confused because they do not know where they come from, or who they really are. Even people who believe in God do not always understand what it means to be His child, and do not know how to feel the love that he has for them. I think that is the most important thing that I could ever hope to share with people, to help them to understand who they really are and to feel the love of our Father in Heaven.

Random service of the week was helping a lady put up a trampoline in her backyard. I thought it was super fun! Sister Gallacher thought it was super cold. It took us a while but we got it all set up and got to jump on it after we were finished!

Pictures!

 The finished trampoline.

 Me and Sister Gallacher!

An elk!

We went hiking last Monday. I didn't want to go but I was outvoted.

It was pretty windy on Sunday.

 

Have a wonderful week!

Sister Daelemans

Thanks for the moisture

It is raining today and it makes my heart happy! It has rained only a handful of times while I have been here on my mission. Something that I have learned is that California Mormons are similar to Utah Mormons in that when they pray and thank God for the rain, they don't actually call it rain. They call it moisture. "...and thank you so much for the moisture that we are receiving outside today..." It's called rain. You can call it rain.

Sister Gallacher and I had a pretty good first week together. We met two new people who we are going to start teaching. The story of how we met the one lady was pretty cool. A couple weeks ago we had dinner with some members, and we asked them if they knew of anyone that might be interested in meeting with us. They told us that we could try their neighbor Dina, since she's nice and always seems to be home. So this week, we had some extra time because an appointment got rescheduled, and I thought, "We need to go see Dina! They gave us that referral to us a while ago and we really need to go contact her!" So off we went to Dina's house. When she answered the door she told us that she was busy and couldn't talk to us. But we kept talking to her anyway. It turns out that she has been going through a really rough time recently. We shared a scripture with her that we had read together that morning in companionship study. Mosiah 24:13-14 "And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage. And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon their shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." She was really touched and said that it really helped her. She told us that God sent us there to her. It was really amazing to hear her say that! On a less spiritual note, it was also kind of weird because after we left, the member who lives next door to her (they live in apartments, so there is only a thin wall between them) texted us and said "Sisters, I was home and just overheard your conversation with Dina! Great job!" Kind of creepy, but that thank you?

Hong and Mike. I have so many feelings about what has been going on with them. With Hong, everything comes down to faith, and believing in things you can't see. She really struggles with this, because she wants proof. But she doesn't realize that she has already received witnesses from the Spirit that the things we are teaching her are true! She has so much faith already and she doesn't recognize it. Any prayers on their behalf would be much appreciated! They are doing good though, Hong just needs a little extra boost of the Spirit.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sister Daelemans

Elder Bednar and Other Surprises

Once upon a time Elder David A Bednar came to the California Bakersfield mission and made me so excited I just about exploded!

This Saturday he came and spoke to all of the missionaries in the mission (which is CRAZY because the whole mission is NEVER all together at the same place at the same time. It just never happens.) The format was mostly question and answer. First, he just asked all the missionaries to share things they had learned from some talks we had read to prepare for his visit. Then he opened it up for us to ask him questions. It was really neat because you would think that talking to an Apostle of the Lord would be pretty intimidating, but he made everyone feel really comfortable and let us know that he wanted us to speak from the heart, and that he wasn't going to be judging anything we said. It was a cool experience because he made us be active participants in the learning experience. The biggest thing he talked about, which seemed to keep coming up in everything he said, is the importance of agency. He said that having agency is more about acting than it is about choosing. And, once we make a covenant at baptism to follow him, it is not our agency anymore. It is the Lord's. We are under covenant to do the Lord's will and not our own. The way he explained it was way more mind-blowing that the way I am conveying the information, but yeah. It's crazy because the more I learn the more I realize how little I know.

That was Saturday. On Sunday, Elder Bednar spoke to just the Bakersfield East Stake. I just so happen to be serving in the Bakersfield East stake, which means I got lucky enough to hear from him TWICE!! The first half of his talk was directed to non-members and it was SO GOOD! He basically taught the Restoration of the Gospel, which is the first missionary lesson. It was so good but I was also so sad because none of our investigators came to stake conference! :( :( An Apostle of the Lord came and spoke directly to them, and they weren't even there! In my head I was like, "Hi Elder Bednar, maybe you can just come with us and teach all of our investigators for us, please?" Lol, wishful thinking. The rest of his talk was about what the Savior would teach us if he was here. He said it would be the sacrament, and told us how important it is, along with the other priesthood ordinances. What an amazing experience that was!

That was the weekend. The rest of the week was kind of insane. Normally, when an apostle of the Lord comes to your mission, you would think that that is the biggest thing that happened to you. Sadly, that was not the case.

Sister Harmon got emergency transferred this week! :( :( One of the sister missionaries in Bakersfield was sick and had to go home, and there was another companionship that wasn't getting along, so they moved a bunch of people around and somehow we got mixed up in it. And Sister Harmon is now gone. :(

My new companion is Sister Gallacher! We only became companions on Saturday so we haven't been able to take any pictures yet, but next week!

I am excited to see what the rest of this transfer will be like!

Happy November (can you believe it is half over?!)

Sister Daelemans

"I don't know about you, but I'm feelin' 22!"

My birthday was on Thursday and it was a blast! Sister Harmon got up early and covered my bed in balloons and streamers. Then during companionship study she wrapped me up like a mummy!

A member took us out to eat for dinner, and she brought a cheesecake with her to the restaurant, and then afterwards we went to a service auction at the church which was pretty fun. Here are some more fun pictures from the week.

Halloween:

Service Auction

Helping a lady sort through all her books

Things have been going great. A lot of members here have been telling us about their friends who are interested in the church, so it looks like we will be very busy in the near future which I am very excited for!

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes!

Much Love,

Sister Daelemans

Happy Halloween!

So many amazing pictures this past week.

Our wonderful district:


Halloween:




The alpaca farm we went to last Monday:

Sister Harmon and I are staying together another transfer!! I am so pumped, we have so many cool things ahead of us in the next 6 weeks. Here are a few:

1. My Birthday

2. Thanksgiving

3. The Christmas Creche (or Nativity) Festival they are doing in the beginning of December

4. The Mission Temple trip

5. Hong, Mike, Mary, and all the wonderful people in Golden Hills and Bear Valley that the Lord is preparing for us to teach!!
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​It is going to be so great!!!

Funny teaching story of the week:

Mike: "What do you need to do to prepare to get baptized?"

Me: "Have faith, repent..."

Hong (interrupting me) to Mike: "Oh, you don't do that, you can't get baptized!"

Mike: "Yes I do."

Hong: "No you don't! I never see you repent!"

Then came an explanation of how you repent in private during prayer, so hence she wouldn't necessarily see him repenting. It was amazing.

Another funny teaching story:

We brought a member to come teach a lesson with us. Halfway through the lesson the member randomly pulls out an Ensign magazine, turns to an article by President Uchtdorf, and proceeds to tell our investigator (in the middle of the lesson, mind you) how wonderful President Uchtdorf is and also how attractive he is. Yes. That really happened. I love her so much. :D

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Happy Halloween!

Sister Daelemans

Scripture Power!

This has been a pretty good week. We started teaching some new people that the members found for us, and they are awesome! And the weather has been beautiful – it rained a little on Sunday, the first time in weeks!

Hong and Mike – doing great! Lessons with them are always so much fun. It was so cool because we were talking about Faith and Miracles and Answers to Prayers, and Mike was helping us teach his wife about those things! She told us that she is 90% sure that God answers her prayers, but only 40% sure that Jesus actually walked on water. I thought that was so interesting. To me, prayer is the bigger miracle. Walking on water does not seem like that big of a deal when I compare it to prayer. I just can't believe how amazing it is that God is actually listening to me even with all of the other people who pray to him, and the fact that he is the Supreme Creator of the Universe and I am just little ol me. But the Love He has for me is beyond my comprehension, so that is a huge miracle in my book.

This Sunday was the Primary Program! Since we go to 2 wards, I got to see 2 primary programs, so it was pretty much the best Sunday of life! Definitely the best Sunday of the year anyway :) The theme for the primary children this year was Studying the Scriptures. Both groups of primary kids sang "Scripture Power" which is not a reverent song at all – in fact, they were practically yelling, and the Golden Hills primary kids each had a set of scriptures in their hands which they thrust in the air every time they sang the words Scripture Power. But for some reason, both times the kids sang that song, it really hit me and I almost started to cry. I think it is because I have found how powerful the scriptures truly are. Hong for example, does not understand a lot of things simply because she didn't grow up with a religion background. She didn't grow up believing in a God or in a Savior. And as we have been teaching her, it is never the things I say that make sense to her, or the things my companion says. No matter how much we explain something, she doesn't always get it. But, as she has been reading the Book of Mormon (even though she doesn't even understand the words all of the time) things start to make sense to her. There is a special power that the scriptures bring into your life when you start to read them. I have seen it in my life and in Hong and Mike's lives, and in many other people's lives while on my mission. It truly is amazing.

Also, I can't remember if I told you all last week, but Elder Bednar is coming to our mission!! November 12th and 13th. I. Am. So. Excited. :DDD

Much Love,

Sister Daelemans

Pics from this week: Sister Harmon and I playing piano together!!

Beautiful Tehachapi!!

Foggy Weather

The weather has been getting cold and foggy. I wore my coat for the first time today and a member we ran into at the grocery store looked at me and asked where I was from. Maryland. "Then why are you wearing a coat?!?" Just because I am used to the cold does not mean that I like it, and it doesn't mean that I am somehow immune to cold and that I won't wear a coat.

This week has been good and busy. A general authority came to our mission this week! Elder Carl Cook of the Seventy. We got to hear from him on Friday with half the mission in Bakersfield  and it was SO AWESOME! He was super funny, but more importantly the things he counseled us on have really motivated me to try so much harder and to be so much better. Sometimes hearing about all the things you should be doing, that you're not, is discouraging, because you know you will never get there. But he really focused on how we can use the Savior and the Atonement to improve  We cannot change on our own, and when we try to, that is when we get frustrated and give up. But when you rely on the Savior, He is able to change you and make you better. The Atonement is so awesome. I think we have very little comprehension of how many things his sufferings actually covered. It covers EVERYTHING! I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of what that can actually mean for me in my life. It is so awesome being a missionary! I have learned so much, especially of how much I still have left to learn. Good thing we are given our whole lives to learn and grow and improve.

The Golden Hills ward Relief Society had a "PJs" Party. Everyone came in their pajamas and we talked about Prayer, Journaling, and Scriptures! It was really fun (even though we didn't get to wear pajamas) and Mary was able to come and seemed to have a really good time!

Hong and Mike are doing great! They didn't come to church, which we were really sad about, but then we found out it was because they were really tired and slept in or something. Why were they so tired? Because they haven't been drinking coffee or tea this whole week! Yes, that's right, they have been faithfully living the Word of Wisdom! (Which is great, even though it kind of indirectly caused them to miss church. Oh well. One battle at a time.) I promised them it would get easier over time and that their bodies would adjust to the lack of caffeine. They are doing great!

We have seen so many miracle recently! I love being a missionary and getting to see how the hand of the Lord is always there in His work!

Much Love,

Sister Daelemans

Buddhist Temple

Our area is super spread out, so it always feels like we spend a lot of time in the car. We have been getting really tired of hymns lately (which is the only thing I've been able to listen to for an entire year. They get old after a while) so we have started listening to Christmas music. Is it a bit early? Well, no, actually it's not. Because Christmas music is great and Christ is important all the time!

We have been teaching Mary and she is doing great! She has a hard time understanding the scriptures when she reads them, so we showed her the children's Book of Mormon on the Gospel Library app. She started reading from that and she LOVES it!

Mike and Hong are doing great. Their church attendance has been more and more consistent, and this week in Gospel Principles class they both made comments and contributed to the discussion, which they have never done before! Then we had an AWESOME lesson with them. We asked them how they liked General Conference and they said they really enjoyed it (Mike watched almost every session, including the Priesthood session!) Apparently President Monson said something in regards to "hot drinks" and Mike ended up looking up what that meant and discovered the Word of Wisdom (which we had not taught them yet.) He asked us about it and we ended up teaching it to them as our lesson, and they committed to living it. It is amazing to see how they have progressed. Their faith has grown so much since I have met them. Little things that they both used to have problems with aren't issues any more. It just goes to show that the little things they have been doing, like praying and reading from the Book of Mormon, can make a huge difference. At the end we all knelt down and each of us said a prayer. It was so powerful!

Last Monday we went to see the Buddhist temple that is out in the mountains. Who knew there were so many random things to do in Tehachapi?

Here is our humongous zone:

Love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Daelemans

The Joy of Missionary Work

General Conference was this weekend, and let me tell you, it was such a spiritual feast! I appreciate it so much more as a missionary than I did before. As I watched, I wrote down things that they said that I wanted to share with specific people we are teaching, or things for myself that I really needed to hear. There is always so much to learn and so much to work on!

One of my favorite talks was by President Nelson. He spoke about how the main purpose of the Gospel, is to bring us JOY. That is what we are doing as missionaries, bringing people joy. Go watch it here:

Joy - President Nelson

There were also two BOMB talks about member missionary work. They just made my heart sing! It was all the things I wish I could tell members about being missionaries, but I'm sure that coming from the mouths of Apostles of the Lord will make these things have a much bigger impact.

Member Missionary Work - Elder Andersen

Member Missionary Work - Elder Oaks

We had a super busy week. That is always great because it makes the time fly by and you really feel like the Lord's work is moving forward. We got a referral from a member in the Golden Hills ward for her friend Mary. She told us that Mary was ready to take the missionary lessons and learn more about the Gospel! We met with her and she is SO PREPARED AND AWESOME! She has such a strong desire to learn and to grow closer to the Savior. Right now we are praying for a miracle because she has to work on Sundays a lot so she won't be able to come to church right away. But we have seen so many miracles this transfer, I have faith that anything is possible through the Lord.

Another really cool member referral was for a woman named Anne. Anne had a son that was killed several years ago, but his spirit has been doing things to show his mom that he's still there. Not only has he been doing things to get his mom's attention, but has also been appearing in dreams to his mom's friend Naomi, the member who referred us to Anne. Apparently he has been telling Naomi that he has accepted the Gospel in the Spirit World and wants to be baptized in the temple. I was not aware that you could take names to the temple if they weren't related to you, but apparently permission can be given in rare circumstances and Naomi has been working the past several months to get that figured out so that the son's temple work can be performed. She also has a daughter that lives in Santa Clarita who is currently taking the missionary lessons and planning to join the church. So, we got to meet Anne this week. She is super busy right now because her other daughter is getting married and her mom just passed away, but hopefully we will be able to teach her after things calm down a little. What a crazy story that is?!

Hong and Mike are doing well. They watched conference from their house and apparently really enjoyed it. They are making slow but steady progress. It is a joy to watch them make small realizations in the middle of lessons about things that we teach. You can see on their face when the Spirit suddenly tells them something or makes something clear to their minds. :)

Last Monday we went with some of the other missionaries to an ostrich farm that is here in Tehachapi. It was super random and really fun.

Also, I hit my year mark on Friday. WHAT?! I cannot believe I have been out for a whole year!

Have a great week!

Sister Daelemans

How Great Thou Art

We had transfers this week, which means I have a new companion! Sister Harmon, from Utah. She is a hoot, I already love her. And the missionary work has been going great!

Crazy miracle: We had an hour before dinner one day and we weren't sure what to do, so we prayed and felt directed to go to one particular street. We parked, got out of the car, and walked a little ways away from the car before knocking on the first door. The lady who opened the first door we went to turned out to be a less active member with a non-member husband. She was super sweet and was so glad we came by! We are going back next week to do service for her. The amazing thing was that for some reason, past missionaries had written on the ward list that she had moved and didn't live there anymore, so we would have never gone to visit her otherwise. It was so cool to see the Lord directing us directly to where he needed us to be!

We went to go contact a lady named Lori who had met with missionaries in the past. We talked with her for a little while, then her friend Frenchy came out to talk to us as well. We taught them both and set an appointment to come back the next day to teach them. When we went back, Frenchy was there and was so excited to see us! It was such a good lesson. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she loved it. I was a little nervous at first because she told us that her dad had been a Baptist minister (and some Baptists tend to not really like us very much) but she is super open and she just really loves the Lord. She and Lori are also going to play guitar and sing us a song next time we go over, which is super amazing. Also, Lori has a pet raven named Loki (named after the god of mischief) and he hops around her front yard and scared Sister Harmon to death the first time we met him. She might have actually made some crazy noises to scare it away before we found out that it belonged to Lori.....it was pretty funny.

 

(Lori and Loki.)

Mike and Hong came to church this week! We also had a lesson with them, and it was really funny because Mike brought up the Second Coming of Christ, which Hong had never heard about before. We explained it to her, and talked about how a lot of terrible things will continue to happen in the world before he comes again. As we talked, she was getting pretty scared, but we assured her that as long as she was following Christ she didn't have anything to worry about. She still looked scared, and then said "I think I need to start reading my scriptures more!" Haha! I am not one to use scare tactics, but hey, if it gets you to read your scriptures then whatever works!

Women's Conference was on Saturday and it was SO GOOD! And I know that I say that every conference, but I seriously think the talks get better every time. There was an amazing talk on faith by President Uchtdorf which you should all go watch in case you didn't get a chance to on Saturday. Watch it right now! It made me so pumped for next weekend and the rest of conference! It is always such a spiritual feast, and if you go prayerfully, with questions, you will always find answers in the things that are spoken.

The biggest thing that happened this week is that Bonnie got baptized! It was such a good baptismal service. Her brother Rex and his wife Margaret flew out from Georgia to be there and her brother was able to baptize and confirm her. So many people from the ward showed up to support her, which was amazing considering she moved to Palmdale this week so she won't even be in our ward anymore. :( But she is already being a great little missionary in the retirement home she moved to – she's been inviting other residents to come to church with her! :) During the closing song at her baptism I looked over at her, and her head was bowed and her eyes were closed, so at first I thought she had fallen asleep. But then I noticed that she was singing along. "And when I think, that God his son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to thee. How Great thou art. How Great thou art." I don't know what it was about seeing her like that, but the spirit was so overwhelming, and I was filled with so much love for her, knowing how much the Lord loves her.

Love you all! Enjoy conference!

Sister Daelemans

Stake, not Steak

We got transfer calls on Saturday, and found out that I will be staying and Sister Dow will be leaving. It was pretty expected, since I just got here and she's been here for 7 1/2 months. But it is sad because Bonnie's baptism is next Saturday and Sister Dow is going to just barely miss it :( Bonnie took the news pretty well though. She is very excited for her baptism, especially since her brother is going to be there, and her kids might be able to come as well!

This weekend was Stake Conference. It was really good. We had a member of the 70, whose name I can't remember for the life of me, but he said a lot of really great things. He spoke about turning our lives to the Savior, and how taking the Sacrament is the ordinance of Enduring to the End. The main reason we go to church is to be able to take the sacrament. To renew our covenants. To repent and turn back to Christ once again. We've been having trouble getting some of our investigators to come to church because they don't understand its importance, and this talk would have been PERFECT for them, but of course they weren't there to hear it. (Oh the irony of giving talks at church on the importance of coming to church. It's always the wrong audience.)

Because we are up in Tehachapi and the Stake Center is in Bakersfield, some smart computer people in the area decided it would be a lot more convenient for everybody if they broadcasted the meeting up to us since 1. the whole stake probably does not fit very comfortably in the stake center and 2. it is really nice not to have to drive an hour away for church. So we watched it on a giant screen in the chapel. It was funny though because there were several times when the connection was temporarily lost, and the video feed repeated the last 5 seconds over and over again until the signal was picked up again. It was especially funny when it happened in the middle of one of the hymns and they kept singing the same thing over and over. :)

Also, side note, I hate trying to explain Stake Conference to investigators. Because you have to explain wards and stakes, and they look at you like "Why is it called a steak?" and you're like "Not steak, Stake" and they are still confused and then sometimes they think about it some more and then wonder why we call it a "ward" because that is also pretty weird since a "ward" is usually an institution for the mentally unstable. So yeah, Stake. It comes from Isaiah. Because we like to quote scriptures and confuse people.

I am excited for this upcoming transfer. I don't know who my companion is going to be yet, because our mission president decided to change the way they do transfer calls. They used to tell us where we are going and who our companion will be, but now the only thing they tell us is if we are staying or if we are leaving. We won't find out the rest until we show up for transfers  Gah, it is so frustrating! I don't like surprises!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Much love,

Sister Daelemans

9/12/16

Not much to say this week. We have been trying really hard to find new people to teach, but we just have not been having any success. There is a new approach that our mission president told us to use as we contact people outside or at their door, but so far it hasn't worked for us. We keep trying though! Several members have recently told us about friends they have who they think are ready to take the missionary discussions, so hopefully something will come from that as well.

This is the last week of the transfer! It has gone by SO FAST! Next weekend is Stake Conference, the weekend after that is Bonnie's baptism, and the weekend after that is General Conference AND I will have been out for a year.

Much Love!

Sister Daelemans

Feed My Sheep

That funny moment when your investigator texts you and says she is too busy to keep taking the lessons but you go over anyway and pretend like you didn't get her text message and then she invites you inside and you end up having a really awesome lesson and then she comes to church the next day. Yep, that's what happened this week. Among other things.

This will be a pretty quick email, since I am pressed for time. Here are some other highlights:

1. People keep giving us fresh fruit and it's really awesome.

2. The weather has suddenly cooled off. Yesterday it was in the 70s and it felt AMAZING!

3. That awkward moment when someone in the ward almost died this week but didn't (which was good, obviously) but then in Fast and Testimony meeting everyone got up and basically bore their testimony about that person and how glad they are that he didn't die instead of baring their testimony about Jesus. So. Awkward.

4. We went over to Bonnie's to help her clean and ended up giving her dog a bath in the sink.

5. It was Sister Dow's birthday on Wednesday!

And I actually took pictures this week! Yay!

In town there is a ton of dry grass, which is a huge fire hazard, but instead of mowing it all down they pay to have sheep herders bring their sheep to graze on all the hills and in all the empty fields. So as you drive around Tehachapi you randomly pass by herds of sheep. It's pretty random but also very smart. The other day they were grazing in the fields surrounding a church. The name of the church is Shepherd of the Hills :D I tried to get a picture but you can only kind of see the church in the background. Pretty funny though.

Love you all!

Sister Daelemans