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!

​

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!!
​
​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

​

Happy Halloween!

Sister Daelemans