First, sorry for the short email this morning. Derick was correct when he asked if I was running late; we were, and I wasn't in a bad mood. Promise.
ANYWAY,
Dear Family:
We went fishing today P-Day. My first time fishing in probably 7 or 8 years, and it's amazing. We're fishing for Steelheads, which are kind of the King of Rainbow trouts. Anyway, we got all hooked up (jokes) to help a member up here and went out to the Thorn River. We didn't catch, or even see, any fish, but it was awesome nonetheless.
Alaska fishing beats any other kind any day. Go on, I dare you. Just try to find any fishing that's more awesome.
This week has been great. We've been working hard all week, striving to get up every day on time and do the right thing, and we've noticed the immediate blessings. It's incredible how successful we can be when we're trying hard to always do the right thing.
The transfer is coming to a close, right when things are starting to happen. Elder Denison doesn't want to go anymore; he's been working on getting Sunday services set up in the outlying communities for 6 months now, and it looks like he'll leave just as it's starting to happen.
I'm sorry, I've completely forgotten what I was going to say in this Email; Fishing took all my memory space.
Memory: Oh Yeah, Mom, if you could sent a Large Flash drive up here next time you get a chance; I need something to store pictures on, and the USB drives up here are 80$ for a 16 GB. That is not right.
I need to wrap this up. Please know that while I'm not saying anything of importance, I still love you all. I'll try hard to not be running short on email time next week.
Love, from the where-are-the-fish-I-though-this-was-Alaska North,
Elder Darcey
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Why Do I Love This Place?
All,
First, Do you see that picture? We've had a full week of uninterrupted sunlight and that has effected miraculous changes. My hair finally went back to being normal blond, my cold completely went away and no one makes fun of me when I wear sunglasses at night.
Mom asked me a question that made me laugh. She said "Are you getting mostly normal daylight hours now? I hear that it changes so much as 5 minutes daily." To her, I respond, how much sunlight is normal? The sun's coming up at 5 in the morning and going down at 8:30 p.m. Even as far south as we are (the south-est [most southern] in the mission) we're still going to be getting only 4 hours of actual darkness come summer.
Second, the Work is going awesome. We taught the first lesson to investigator "Six hour" last week. She agreed to be baptized when she received a witness that it was all true. I left her with my promise that has never gone wrong: "if you put in the work, you WILL receive a witness of the truth". For everyone seeking, I promise the same thing. If you're willing to do what the Lord asks of you, you will never be left in the dark.
Third, The food is great and deer meat is delicious. Down (or is it up?) here, the deer are only the size of, say, a large golden retriever, so residents are allowed to take 5 per year, per family member. Fish is delicious. Halibut, Salmon, Cod, crab, it's all great.
The packages Mom sent up of g-f mixes are great as well. It was awesome to have waffles and muffins and other g-f treat things. To answer my mother's criticism about not remembering how to make waffles, let me simply say that it's been a full year since I was in college and needed to make them myself. On that note, "How do you make them again?"
Fouth, my Companion is great. Elder Denison is from Price, UT. He's 22 years old and has 4 months left on his mission. He's had some of the hardest times in a mission that the mission has to offer, but he's doing great now.
Fifth, I just love being on a mission. I'm learning great things, both for myself and for others.
Here's my thought for this time: "We need to recognize how we feel the spirit. This is the most important thing we can learn in our lives. Whether it comes in knowledge, feelings, enlightenment, or anything else, we need to be able to feel and understand it so that we can follow it."
I'll share a weird example before I sign off. Every time I'm alone in a house, or the last one awake, I'll always get the feeling to check the locks on the doors before I go to sleep. I'll ignore it, because I already checked them. But I always get the feeling again. So, I'll go and check the locks, and lo and behold! They're all locked.
This is training. One day, I'll be able to check the first time without needing a second prompting. And maybe someday, with all my diligence, the door will be unlocked.
Or maybe I'm just going crazy. ;)
Love from the North,
Elder DArcey
First, Do you see that picture? We've had a full week of uninterrupted sunlight and that has effected miraculous changes. My hair finally went back to being normal blond, my cold completely went away and no one makes fun of me when I wear sunglasses at night.
Mom asked me a question that made me laugh. She said "Are you getting mostly normal daylight hours now? I hear that it changes so much as 5 minutes daily." To her, I respond, how much sunlight is normal? The sun's coming up at 5 in the morning and going down at 8:30 p.m. Even as far south as we are (the south-est [most southern] in the mission) we're still going to be getting only 4 hours of actual darkness come summer.
Second, the Work is going awesome. We taught the first lesson to investigator "Six hour" last week. She agreed to be baptized when she received a witness that it was all true. I left her with my promise that has never gone wrong: "if you put in the work, you WILL receive a witness of the truth". For everyone seeking, I promise the same thing. If you're willing to do what the Lord asks of you, you will never be left in the dark.
Third, The food is great and deer meat is delicious. Down (or is it up?) here, the deer are only the size of, say, a large golden retriever, so residents are allowed to take 5 per year, per family member. Fish is delicious. Halibut, Salmon, Cod, crab, it's all great.
The packages Mom sent up of g-f mixes are great as well. It was awesome to have waffles and muffins and other g-f treat things. To answer my mother's criticism about not remembering how to make waffles, let me simply say that it's been a full year since I was in college and needed to make them myself. On that note, "How do you make them again?"
Fifth, I just love being on a mission. I'm learning great things, both for myself and for others.
Here's my thought for this time: "We need to recognize how we feel the spirit. This is the most important thing we can learn in our lives. Whether it comes in knowledge, feelings, enlightenment, or anything else, we need to be able to feel and understand it so that we can follow it."
I'll share a weird example before I sign off. Every time I'm alone in a house, or the last one awake, I'll always get the feeling to check the locks on the doors before I go to sleep. I'll ignore it, because I already checked them. But I always get the feeling again. So, I'll go and check the locks, and lo and behold! They're all locked.
This is training. One day, I'll be able to check the first time without needing a second prompting. And maybe someday, with all my diligence, the door will be unlocked.
Or maybe I'm just going crazy. ;)
Love from the North,
Elder DArcey
We Had A New Investigator -- Six Hours Church Straight?
All,Let me tell you how awesome conference was.
IT WAS AWESOME. I think one of my favorite talks was by Elder Andersen. Anyway, the big news is that we picked up a new investigator...sort of. We just invited her to conference, and she showed up. FOR ALL SIX HOURS. I was pretty impressed, seeing as most members don't stay for the entire time, or watch the whole thing in one break. It was a real testimony how much people can be seeking out the truth; all we need to do is show them where it is.
Sorry about the shortness of the emails, and the lack of the responses. I'm still kicking a bad cold that swept me yesterday. Literally, one second I was ok, the next I couldn't breath and was coughing and sneezing and dying. Go figure.
This week we helped pour concrete at a members future home. This wasn't a little "eagle scout project" pour; this was a "the cement mixer had to go and refill twice" pour. It was pretty awesome.
I recieved an awesome package from my family! it had a belt (I'm running through these things so quick; you just keep sending one every 4 months or so and I'll be good) a BOOK (this book is awesome. Thanks so much for sending it). I also received a DVD with awesome music on it! (I can't get it off the DVD, but that's ok).
This week has really again affirmed to me how important it is to keep working, regardless of how much success we seem to have. One day we had everything from 3:30 on fall through, and we spent the entire afternoon just looking for people to see, or service to do, or things we could fill up our time with. It was important to do that. We could have just called it quits, but that would mean admitting defeat, which is something that neither Elder Denison or I like to do.
I wish I could finish this story with a "and then we found someone who was awesome and we're now teaching them", but that would be a lie. We didn't find anyone to meet with, and we didn't find anything to do, but we tried anyway, and that's what's important. I was advised by someone to try out the Paleolithic Diet. I object due to a couple reasons. First, I don't eat less food. Second, I'm a missionary, with what's known as a "meager income". third, it doesn't seem to have any good effects. Last, I'm doing ok with just my Celiac diet as it is.
I better sign off. Love to all from the North,
Elder Darcey
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