"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