Week of Crazy

What a wonderful Easter Week! I hope you all had the chance to reflect on the Atonement and the resurrection of our Savior! What a beautiful thing it is to know that God loves us enough to give us his Son :)

The most exciting and slightly scary thing that happened this week: This Sunday, although it was Easter, was our fast and testimony meeting. So anyone can get up and talk. Including people not from our church. Well, a homeless and probably drunk man got up and told us that he was a follower of Islam and that he had just come to our church to find out what we teach. Then he told us that there was "Only one God! It says it in the scriptures somewhere. I can't remember where....but you can look it up yourselves!" Then he left. I was not that concerned, just a little baffled, but after he left a bunch of men in the congregation got up and followed him out, and everyone was freaking out about it. It seemed to me that he really didn't even know what it meant to be a follower of Islam, that he didn't know his own religion (if that even was his religion.) I also think I'm so used to weird stuff that I don't even realize it's weird anymore.

Also, we witnessed a hobo fight in Frosty King. One Hobo walked in and just randomly attacked the other, yelling something about public indecency. It was interesting.

A funny thing that happened: We were leaving a members house at night. We said "It's time for us to go home!" and their 10-year-old daughter asked, "To the church?" It was so funny! The sweet kid thought that we lived at the church building! :)

On Saturday we had the opportunity to watch Women's Conference, the first official session of General Conference, and it was SO GOOD! Our investigator Margie came and really enjoyed it. The whole thing was about service, and how we need to reach out to those around us with love. The Spirit was so strong, and it was such a blessing to be able to learn from our inspired leaders.

And speaking of General Conference...it is next weekend! I invite all of you to watch it. We live in such a blessed day and age to have an actual prophet of the Lord on the earth who receives revelation specifically for our day. Watch it! It will be amazing!!

I Love you all!

Sister Daelemans

Easter Week

Happy Easter Week!

We had our Easter Program at Church this past Sunday (Even though Easter is next week.) It was amazing! The speakers talked about Christ and the Atonement and the Resurrection. I love this season. One of the speakers talked about how this week before Easter commemorates the most important week in the history of the world. It is the week that Christ entered Jerusalem, had the last supper with his apostles, performed the Atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane, and hung on the cross. Then, three days later, he rose from the dead at the resurrected, glorified Lord and Savior!

The Church has released a video for Easter. You should all go watch it and share it with people!

#hallelujah

Our investigator Margie came to church on Sunday and stayed for all 3 hours! She seemed to enjoy herself. We have been texting her scriptures every night for her to read, and she really looks forward to them every day. Her life is kind of crazy and hectic right now, but she recognizes that church is a refuge that brings her peace.

There is a lady in our ward who got baptized last August, and this past Saturday 2 of her sons got baptized as well. The elders in our ward were the ones to teach them, but they invited us to the baptism to do a missionary moment (at convert baptisms here, a set of missionaries always shares the Restoration as part of the service.) It was such a great experience. I could feel the Spirit so strongly as we testified of Christ's church and how it is on the earth again! (We were standing in front of the font, which had overflowed and so the carpet was super wet. By the time we were done my shoes were completely soaked through!)

I am so grateful for this Easter season that we have to celebrate the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that Christ lives! Because he lives, each of us can live again as well!

Love you all!

Sister Daelemans

Happy Pie Day!

It is pie day today! Please go enjoy some pie and do some geometry to celebrate! Just kidding, geometry is the worst. Just eat pie.

It has been a week full of...weeding. We always offer people service, and most of the time people say "That's okay! I don't need any help right now!" Well, I don't know what it was about this week, but everyone decided to cash in all at once. And what kind of service did they all need? Weeding. Well, it was pretty fun to weed actually. It is strangely satisfying to pull plants out of the ground by the roots. You can get all your frustrations out on the weeds. But I think I am now good for the rest of the year. No more weed pulling for me or I think I might just start pulling up all the grass as well.

Speaking of weeds, there are weed shops all over the place here in Bakersfield. Medical marijuana is legal here in California, so if you have a card you can literally just go to the store and buy some drugs. In broad daylight. No biggy.

But that is why I am out here I guess, to find the people who are just as confused as I am about the evil that is in the world—the people that are searching for those small rays of light that can pierce through the darkness. And that kind of light can only come from the Gospel!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best thing in the world. I could go on and on, but I really don't have to say much more than that. It is just the best. :)

Also, I found my flash drive, so that's good. Except I still don't have any pictures of my companion and I...we are kind of the worst at taking pictures. But I will try to remember this week!

Have a great Pie Day!

Sister Daelemans

The Music of the Gospel

So, this will be a short weekly email. My time is almost up on the computer. I wasted some time freaking out because I was going to send you all some pictures but then I realized that I've lost my USB which literally has my entire life on it. Hopefully I just left it in my apartment. :(

I've noticed, now that I've been out longer, that my happiness is directly related to how hard I am working. When I am not working as hard as I know I should be, I do not feel satisfied in my own efforts, even when we are having success. I know I need to be putting in a greater effort. There is no other time in my life that I will be able to put in all my time to serving the Lord the way I am now, and so I want this time to really count. It requires constant dedication and diligence. When I am putting in my all, 1. I am exhausted, but also 2. I am exceptionally happy. :)

This week the area I'm serving in had Stake Conference. One of the things I learned was that no matter how much you go through the motions, the Gospel does not have real impact in our lives unless we learn to let the Savior be a part of everything we do. I am trying to do that as a missionary. It is really easy to get into a routine with things. Wake up, pray, read scriptures, go out, talk to people, share your testimony, come home, pray, go to bed, and so on. You would think that with sharing the gospel you would constantly feel the Spirit, but it is amazing how you can turn into a robot. I am trying to make everything I do more meaningful by having the Savior constantly on my mind and to seek strength from Him in everything I do.

There was a talk in General Conference last year titled The Music of the Gospel which addresses this very thing. Read it! It's amazing!!

Love you and have a fantastic week!

Sister Daelemans