Friday, September 16, 2011

Pictures!



















Week 11 - still GHETTO


hey family! how is it going?? i'm doing good! this week was exhausting though! but some cool stuff happened. 

so first of all you need to tell dave that we got blinds hung in our apartment and they are not hunter douglas! it's a shame haha. i helped the senior couple hang them because i'm so experienced... haha it made me miss working with dave! so make sure and tell them hi for me! 

so this week we taught francisco (guy with baptism commit) about the word of wisdom. we were just stopping over to say hi and then elder parker just thought we should teach it so we did. and francisco told us that he likes his coffee. but then he's like "i guess you have to sacrifice for the lord. and if i have the coffee maker here it'll be a tempation, so you can take it." so now we have our very own coffee maker! it was so legit. God prepared him. he's so ready. the only problem is that he works on sundays. so he has to talk to his boss to get his schedule changed. so keep your fingers crossed!
oh also this week as we were walking to the grocery store something cool happened. some crazy guy told us, "walk with faith brothers! for the armies of Christ are with us! the library of Christ has over 400 books and the mormons only add to that!" then walked away. it was pretty motivating haha. then we crossed the street and this police officer like 20 yards away tells us to stop and wait right there. and there's a stretcher on the side walk next to him. next thing i know 8 NYPD's are carrying out this black bag with 2 feet sticking out the bottom of it. so of course i think it's a body bag right? NOPE! dude starts squirming and cussing haha. it was crazy. and as they wheeled him by this huge cop turns to me and says, "you guys need to talk to him. maybe he can find Jesus!" and then we all laughed. it was cool. 

on one of our corners, 109th and guy brewer blvd, is pretty ghetto. it's a sketchy corner. but we have a friend over there named eric. he's probably early 40's and he used to sell drugs on that corner haha. but he's so cool. if he
sees us walking he always yells at us and comes and talks to us and buys us a water at the corner store. he's sweet. he told us if we ever have trouble that he'd "take care of it." so yeah, i'm pretty legit now. (this comment is aimed at cory and megan ;) haha)
me and elder parker are getting along really well and we have a lot of fun! we have found some pretty cool new investigators this week. 
i am getting fat :( the spanish people feed us way too much! i leave every single dinner appointment feeling like i'm going to throw up haha. but it's good. the spanish culture is definitely different! they are very laid back which i like. but it's different. they're very humble! i'm glad that i have the opportunity (i can't remember how to spell that in english) to learn spanish! me gusta espanol mucho! a veces no es facil pero es posible! porque yo tengo la ayuda del senor!

i hope all is going well back home! i miss everybody! mom what's up with the job search? any news? how is all that going? poppa, i'm glad to hear the roof is almost done and that the hunt is soon! i better be getting some
pictures soon! how is work going for you? i hope its ok. have you gone in to dr. marshall and had a diabetic check up? i had that thought the other day that you should go get one if you haven't. so let me know.

mom, so the rule is that i'm only supposed to email family. so i don't know i don't know if they can send
me emails or not? ya. 

and ya i have no idea where my shirts are. i'm baffled. it's possible that elder heaps could have them.. i'll call him this week and ask. so don't buy any yet. i can get by.

 OH! THIS IS IMPORTANT. i don't think i did anything with my us bank account before i left, and i don't know what i need to do? can you ask cory to check on it? we could probably just close it because i don't use it? i don't know. could you ask him? thank you!

i love you! ok you can add also into the next package a bottle of nutella :) i just love you so much! haha. how is the family book of mormon reading going???? i am still waiting for an answer! so i will expect a report next week. and i would really like to suggest that everyone read the september ensign! it's all about strengthening eternal marriage! it was a great issue!

did the bishop say anything about me serving in jamaica? that's where he visits! mom i'm glad that you aren't worrying! cause honestly, there is nothing to worry about! i don't ever feel scared! well i love you guys so much!!!!!!!! 

i miss you but i'm having fun and doing SO good! except i miss byu football!!!! i was so pumped that byu won
their first game, and sad they lost to texas. (the senior couple that lives next door, the rasmussens, kept me updated haha ;) so dad, make sure you email me the byu scores ok? thanks!

i love you so much! this church is true! we are the only ones with authority! i love the book of mormon so much. i love being here serving the lord! i love you! thank you so much for your support and your help!!! i love you!
until next week! 

Week 9 - Part Two

August 29, 2011

Family!

I'm currently in New York! Crazy huh? It is crazy here. Driving requires a tranquilizer ha ha. Good thing Grandpa's not here! He'd have a heart attack! The plan flight was good. We talked to the Jewish lady next to me. She found it interesting that we say our church is different because of authority, but she didn't accept our Book of Mormon. Oh well!

We went tot he mission office, had half a sandwich then did a "street sweep". It was like a force of white shirts and ties! We contacted and passed out pass along cards. It was so hard to catch up to people! They walk fast! It was fun though. Our AP's are really cool. I love it here already! Seriously. This is the best mission in the world. I'm so excited.

I'm not sure what the plan is going to be this week but we meet our new companions tomorrow. This is so exciting! I love you so much! This church is true!

PS The Hurricane blew over half of the trees in the state ha ha. The power is out at the mission home too. ha

I love you!!! P-Day is Monday still so I'll email you then! I love you! Hope all is well!

Love, Elder Matthew Daley - your favorite son!!!

Love you!

Week 9

September 6, 2011


The Big Apple. 



I am alive!!! haha. hi everybody! sorry i didn't email yesterday, the library was closed because of labor day! 
that's really weird that you didn't hear from president nelson. we wrote a letter at the mission home monday and they were going to send it to you. maybe it's just late or something! but i'm doing really good!
everyone here says the hurricane was a let down haha. there were a lot of big trees blown over but that was
really the extent of the damage. so no, i haven't done one bit of clean up! 

wow the first day was crazy. president nelson and the AP's met us at the airport. i LOVE my AP, elder carnohan. he is such a stud! i love him. then we went and did street contacting by the mall which was quite the
experience... haha. it was kind of scary! but fun. then we went to the mission home and ate dinner with the nelsons. they are wonderful! very laid back but they take the job seriously! i love president nelson. i am very sad that they leave in june! he is a great man. the power was out at the mission home because of the hurricane so we had a candle ligth fireside. it was fun. so we slept there that night and then the next day we went to the mission office and met our companions! my companion is Elder Jacob Parker. he is from mountain view, california. he's pretty cool! then we got to work!

it was/still is very weird being in the world again. music everywhere, people cussing, it was a shock. haha the mtc was like it's own little world! but it's good. i extended a baptismal commitment that very night! Olman, the investigator didn't accept but it was memorable haha. but don't worry, next day i got the bap commit! his name is
Francisco! he is so ready to be baptized. he's 57 and wants salvation. the problem we are having is that he works on sundays. :( so he is going to talk to his boss to try and get his schedule changed. so hopefully that works out! 

baptism is an addiction! i wake up every morning and say i want to baptize! it's crazy!!! baptism!!!! haha i'm a psycho i know, but that's why i'm here! to invite others to come unto christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, BAPTISM, recieving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. i love it. this is so fun. 

i have blisters on my feet from walking around all day and i don't even care! we have quite a few investigators right now, we'll see how many of them pan out. we had a family that had a baptismal date but then we found out that they weren't married..... so we're trying to work through that. it's hard. from what i have seen, in the spanish
culture marriage really doesn't matter. they love each other a ton, the have kids, they're faithful, but they just don't see why marriage matters. it's tough. 

oh my area! haha i don't know if i should tell you..... Just kidding mommy!!! my area is Jamaica, Queens! (where the bishop called me from a few months ago!!) i'll be honest, it's pretty hood! we have two sets of projects in our area and we work them both! the south jamaica houses and the baisley projects. pretty cool huh? the rapper, 50 cent, was born in the baisley projects so was the singer nikki monague (spelling?). 50 cent was also shot in our area once haha. mom it's totally safe don't worry. i love it here. for the first time in my life i am the minority! it is a very strange experience to get on the bus and have 40 black people staring at you. haha it's so fun! i have seen a bunch of my friends here! elder monte campbell from stake youth council is in my area and his trainer is nate gootee who i went to school with! and also marc cabinilla is in my mission too! we played baseball together and he went to timpview. pretty fun stuff.

i'm loving it out here. doing real work is the best. it's so much better than the mtc. i liked the mtc, don't get
me wrong, but this is way better. my spanish is... ok. understanding people is the hardest part! especially domincans! phew! but it's getting better. i'm participating in lessons and it's good.

we have a new 12 week training program that they just instituted which is pretty good. it has the trainee doing certain tasks every week. 

i'm trying to remember your emails.... everything is good. i'm going to email megan some pictures. it'll be easier for her to get them on her computer i think... are you ever going to get the computer fixed or get a new one? how is everything? keep me updated on the daley life! pops i want to hear about uncle laynes story so give me the details! 

ok i'm going to give you my addresses now.   this address is the address of my apartment. ONLY
send letters here.  

88-20 Parsons Blvd. 
Jamaica, NY 11432. 
 
 you can even just send the letters to the mission office. whatever you want. they will just forward them to me. packages and stuff should probably be sent to the mission office cause we aren't really at the apartment ever. so yeah.   that address is:

85-69 60th
Drive. Elmhurst, NY 11373   

i love you guys so much! my p-day is monday! 

oh mom. so i got here and i can only find 2 of my short sleeve shirts... i don't know what happened. so i'm not sure what to do. what do you think? email me before you take action. a couple spare garment bottoms in the next package would be welcomed, whenever that comes, no rush. and also food is always welcomed :) 

love you all! i'll email again next monday! do you want me to write a letter every week too? let me know. I LOVE YOU!!!!  

I'm Elder Matthew Daley. 
I baptize.
I'm a mormon. 
(like the
mormon.org [1] videos ;)

haha i love you! talk to you next week. hope all is well!

Week 8 - holy cow!!!


August 22nd, 2011

how is everyone? i'm doing good! i'm so excited for new york! it is coming so fast! so
how is everyone doing? what's going on in the daley home? amber get's married pretty soon right? i bet that is stressing megan out! 

so guess what! i had to give a talk in sacrament meeting on sunday! in spanish!!!! haha let's just say i nailed it! 


so i am still waiting for those pictures dad said were on the way! maybe they will get here today! 


so about the dear elders. they don't come on saturdays. so you have to have them done on friday or else i get them on monday! so that's probably why i didnt' respond last week.

is nikki still dating that guy? i just had that thought the other day. let me know. 

the bow hunt started on saturday! has uncle layne killed a deer yet? i expect a picture. 


oh mom, could you possibly send me like a 3x4 picture of president monson that's laminated?
visual aides are the best! thank you! i can't believe this is my last week. we meet at the travel office at 5 am on monday then our flight leaves at 830 in the morning! pretty exciting. we fly straight to JFK. 


so i don't have anything to say. the mtc is so uneventful hahaha. honestly. i swear that my emails and letters will get better when i get to new york! this week we have infield orientation all day
on friday then our pday is on saturday. so i will email and write on saturday this week. make sure all letters are sent so i'll get them before saturday. 

so we are allowed to call home from the airport if we have time. and i just wanted to get your opinion mom. do you want to do it? it would be pretty short probably. let me know what you want to do. i was thinking that if we did it rachel could sleepover so she could be there too. let me know you think. if so i'll need a phone card. but it's pretty exciting. 


how is primary going?? i heard the westmorelands moved. tell tommie congrats on his calling!! he'll be so good! i talked to sister ellis at the temple today, saw sister critchfield i believe, and talked to scott smith for a minute! he said he talked to you a couple weeks ago. the temple was really good today. we did a session this week. i loved it.

this is my last week as a zone leader. it's crazy think that we are all the oldest elders right now and in a week we will be FRESH!!! haha. it's kind of scary. my spanish is no where near where i wish it was haha! it will be an experience! i'm excited though. the big apple! i'm excited. two months has gone by pretty fast for me! has it seemed fast for you? i know the lord is blessing all of us.

how is the family book of mormon reading going?? i expect a report!! every good missionary follows up on commitments! 


how did cory's test go? have they found out any results yet? i haven't heard from them for a while. give lukey a big hug for me! i miss him. he's such a cutie. i have a picture of him in my scriptures and i show him off a lot! haha he's just so cute! 


we got a new branch councelor last week. brother Mosher. they live in springville. small world,
brother ellis works for/with (not sure which) brother sitterud, our other councelor. him and his wife got called to be the MTC presidents in spain! what a cool mission! haha he used to be in the 70. he's a cool guy. and our branch president is just a man of power. he reminds me a lot of donald trump. haha i love him. he gets down to business!! 


well family i love you so much. i have been reading in 3 nephi this week. what powerful scripture. learning the gospel right out of the mouth of Jesus Christ. how lucky are we that we have the
book of mormon in our lives???

i'm so excited to get to new york and start sharing the gospel! this is so exciting! i love you! i'll email again on saturday. mom if you have any emergency thoughts about stuff i forgot or something you can call the front desk and they'll relay the message.

i love you! write me!! love you! read the BOM together! 

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Week 7 - what to say what to say


August 15th, 2011

what's up familia?!! how goes it?? so another week came and went!
i can't believe it! it seems like just yesterday i was emailing
you last week! times going by pretty fast! i only have 2 weeks left!
wowzer! 

so i believe that today is Megan's birthday...! so happy
birthday megs!! i love you!!!!! i would've wrote you but i
didn't get a letter from you... i know you're busy though so
it's ok! 

where to begin... YOU AND DAD ARE PRIMARY TEACHERS??? i
am baffled. haha you lucky butts! does dad get to go to primary and
sharing time!! dang, why am i missing this! good luck! i better get
some letters from the young men/young women or something! haha. 

so at
gym, we have been playing herraduras!!! or horseshoes. ya it's
pretty great. reminds me of up at the property!! i'm pretty good.
tell uncle layne to watch out!! seeing as he's 50 now!

i'm
glad you remembered the package for new york. i don't know about
the winter clothes stuff. it's whatever you think! just make sure
it gets there! we get our travel plans this week!! what is up! i'm
so excited. i imagine our plane is going to leave quite early in the
morning though. :) nothing new seeing as i get up at 630 everyday! so
ya. i wrote in my letter to send me a phone card so i can call from
the airport. our branch president says it's ok! i got the carry
on today! thank you momma. so i just noticed that the missionary mall
sent the different type of suitcase to me! the ones we bought the
first time then exchanged you know? but it's ok.. it'll work. 

so about my shoulder and back. it's getting better! i had a
strained rotator cuff, i believe i sent this last week. he said
it's just gonna take time to heal. so i'm just resting it. i
don't have anymore appointments at PT tho. it was taking up my
study time so we decided it would just take a couple weeks to get
back to normal. i am getting fat i think. :( my abs are slowly but
surely disappearing! sigh... oh well. i need to start doing some
daggum work out. everyone will be pleased to know that my chest hair
is coming in!!! so eat that cory and brad. haha i'm not very
happy actually. i'm going to be hairy i can tell. yikes! 

so i saw
the towseys and wilda christensen last week! so you could ask them how
i looked! brother towsey is in a branch presidency now! so i got to
chat for a minute. that was pretty cool.

oh! so you can send a
couple new ties in the package for new york! an elder can never have
enough ties!

i am running out of things to say! i'm sorry. after
7 weeks of doing the same exact thing you kind of run out of things
to say! but my spanish is getting better everyday! i like it. i need
to be better at speaking it throughout the day. and my teaching is
improving a lot! i'm excited to get to new york and start the
real stuff! we'll be there for the 10th anniversary of september
11th! i'm so excited for general conference too! it's gonna
be sweet!

i love you family! i'm sorry my emails are kind of
lame. they'll get so much better i promise!! i love you. write me
letters!!!!! i hope everyone is doing good! until next week!    

 ~Elder Matthew Daley aka El Gringo!!!!!!!!!