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 :) 

i 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! 

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!!!!!!!!! 

Week Six - Part Two

August 8th, 2011

Mi Familia!

Como estan? Estoy muy bien! Me espanol es mejor cada dia. Yo amo mi distrito y mi zona. Enough of that garbage! haha hi peeps. It's all good. I wrote mostly questions (in my email) to show you what to do! And because I'm uninformed! Amber is getting married and NO ONE told me! What the heck! Tell me things!!

So I end week six tomorrow. That's so crazy! I'm really thankful for the MTC. It's not easy, the food's not that great, spanish is so-so but I'm learning a lot! We will be the oldest district in our zone tomorrow! That is loco! I can't believe how fast time is going! I hope the time is going fast for you guys as well!

DAD! I can't believe the Rockie's traded Ubaldo! Did they even get anyone good for him? What place are they in? I need an update of the standings.

How has it been with Jen and Zach there? I haven't hard from them yet! What have you guys done? I'm so glad Rachel called you for a ride! That shows she trusts you!

I wish I could've seen Lukey shoot his first gun! What a stud!

I'm glad that you and Dad are reading together. I will be expecting reports of if you're doing it! What kind of missionary would I be if I didn't follow through on commitments!

Today we did initiatory in the temple. It was fun! I saw Gordon Oborn and told him I was the Wagners grandson. He asked about grandpa.

Yes I got the pickles! I don't really have time to eat all this stuff tho! ha ha but tell Ninny thanks! I'm gonna crack em open soon!

I'm doing well! I'm happy. You have ups and downs but that's life. Testimony meeting was great yesterday. Bearing testimony in Spanish is fun! Our first councelor, Brother Brady, told us he's been reassigned to serve as a branch president, so we'll get someone new next week. I have seen Brother Towsey twice! He's in a branch presidency now. I also talked to Sister Ellis at lunch today. It's good to see familiar faces!

I love you guys so much! Always remember that! I'm sorry that I was such a butt most of the time. I love you. You guys are 90% of the reason I'm where I am. Thanks for being the best parents ever. I love you so much! Tell BJ to write me a letter or something! I'll email you in a minute! Love you!

Love Elder Matthew Daley, your favorite son!
(In case someone else reads this) your favorite ...add relationship here.

PS. oh I forgot! So our branch president said we can call home when we are at the airport!!! so we'll have to figure that out! I don't know how much time we'll have but we should get a couple minutes! And I imagine it will be early in the morning! We'll figure it out. Let me know your thoughts. I loev you! Keep the letters coming!!!!

Week 6 - aaaaaaahhh yeah

August 8th, 2011


What up family?


So week six is almost complete! Can you believe it! i cant. but at the same time i can! so, let's start off with some questions! what has happened with megan. she has gone camping more in the last two months than she has like....ever! i love it! and lucas shot his first gun! following in my footsteps! what a cutie! anybody been up to the property lately??? i better start seeing some deer pictures!! 


ok, so brad, or megan, or rachel. someone. i need you to get on my facebook and print me off some of my

hunting pictures. this week!!!! please!!!! i want the one where i'm holding up the coyote, holding one of the rabbits (christmas/hunting photo album), all of my deer kill pictures please!! one of each, and possibly the ones where we are skinning out jakes elk! please do that for me! no one believes that i am a redneck!
so today i whipped out my belt buckle and started revealing my true self. and i need my pictures!! i met an elder from colorado and we talked hunting for a while! it was great!! so send those :) 

did my mission plaque get made?? how does it look? i want a picture of it! 

this week was a pretty easy week. tomorrow we will be the oldest district! cool huh! wednesday we will get a new district. unfortunately no one that i know! but 3 of them are going to my mission! so that's awesome!! 

OH MY GOSH. ok failure. no one told me that amber was getting married!! so.... thanks! haha i'll
forgive you this time, but i expect to know things like this! that's exciting for her!

how is the roof dad? have you almost got it done? have brother cook come and help you! 

did you guys talk to tommie for me? i hope so. i need some letters from him! how is ninny. i need to write her a letter. uncle layne's hunt starts soon right? that's pretty cool. i'm so jealous that i'm not going to be there! i expect some daggum pictures! and i expect him to shoot a monster! 

so an update on my back. my rib is doing a lot better. i learned how to pop it back into place with a chair so that helps. but i hurt my shoulder playing volleyball. did i tell you this? anyway, it was a pretty good game and i was SMASHING the ball, as usual. but i hurt my rotator cuff, same thing as when i hurt it playing baseball. but it's getting better. i'm not supposed to play volleyball anymore... i still do, just left handed. don't tell anyone! :) 

any news about the line of authority? thanks for doing that ma! 

so me and elder stauffer are going to attend george strait in 2013. so i don't know exactly when they release the tour schedule but if someone could research that that'd be great ;).

oh! who loved my envelope??? i hope you did mom. cause i worked hard on it! plenty more where that came from! haha 

i haven't heard anything from aunt jen! when do they leave??? tell her to write me!! 

spanish is coming better every day! there is just so much to remember. but it's good! i love it. it's fun. it's going to be a shocker when we get to new york tho!! being a zone leader is good. it's fun helping the new districts out. 

dad are you and brad going to buy muzzle loaders?? 

oh my gosh! why did the rockies trade ubaldo??? ugh. who did they get for him? i hope someone good. 

i'm running out of things to say. testimony meeting yesterday was great! i love sharing my testimony in spanish. it's fun. the spirit was strong. 

well i love you guys!! i hope everyone is doing well! send me those pictures ok :) thank you! oh i sent some pictures and the memory card to rachel so she could download the pictures on her computer and

then you guys can download them somewhere. is the computer fixed???

anyway, so get with her and she'll give you the pictures.

i said goodbye to alex yesterday. it was fine until he started crying and then of course i had to cry too! it was hard but he'll be a great missionary. i know it!

i love you guys! write me!!   

love, Elder Daley aka "el gringo"

Week Five - PS

ps what has happened to megan!!!!!!!!!!!!! they are going camping!!! i am so proud!!! haha let's hope it lasts! tell cory to take care of my trailer! i love you guys!

Week Five - Untitled

Blog Followers :) :) :) (i have a blog...and followers:) )

Well folks, we have made it pas the half way point!!!! that's crazy huh!!!!! I can't believe it but it still seems like i have an eternity left in here! so first off, ok dear elders don't come on saturdays so send them friday if you want me to get them! and they only print them in the evening so i only recieve them in the evening from our district leader, keep that in mind!

ok, first of all, ashley workman told me she saw some huge bucks! i need pictures and proof! i also need pictures of all megan and cory's camping trips and also dad and brad's scouting trip! dad, did you see any bucks? where did you go?? i hear layne is pumped for his hunt! tell ash i better get some pictures.

i don't know what to talk about so i'm just going down my list of things for a second! Grandma sent me the obituary of tommie's dad last week :( i keep forgetting to say something. well you guys tell him how sorry i am and that he is in my prayers? i love that guy, he's a great example. tell him to write me a letter also!!!!

oh!!! can you guys print me out my priesthood line of authority and send it to me? i think it would be useful to have.

how is aunt jenny and uncle zach? i'm sad that i'm missing them! i better get some daggum letters! my 1st counselor in my branch presidency was the mission president of the carlsbad mission, which includes mission viejo! cool huh?? also, an elder in my zone is from carlsbad, elder larson.

so my first week as zone leader is over. quite uneventful other than meetings...but it's good. it's fun to help the other missionaries. last night i sat with alex at the fireside! he leaves next week! crazy crazy. and afterwards we watched a movie about joseph smith! it was amazing. i could not believe the spirit i felt while watching it. Joseph was the prophet! God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and through him the priesthood was restored. I can't believe how faithful he was to the Lord. he was constantly ridiculed and abused but he remained ever faithful!!!!

i want everyone to do something for me. mom and dad, i want you guys to sit down and read the book of mormon TOGETHER ok? and cory and megan, you guys do the same! (include Jared). The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. it is so important for us to constantly study it. it'll bring a great spirit to you. so do it!

i really don't know what to talk about!! this is so short...i'm sorry! umm....send me a list of questions if you want them answered ok! this week the MTC curriculum changes so class is going to be different. i'll let you know how it is.

oh we went to the temple today! elder heaps and i did sealings. it was fun. our names were native american names. some of them were: blue blanket, brown cow goes first, shot in the eye, kills his enemy, and red bear. yeah it was great. haha very memorable!

mom did you and kristy have fun in vegas??? tell me about it! today the elder who lives next door, his grandpa died :( it was sad. that better not happen to me! so you tell ninny and grandma and grandpa wagner it's not an option!!! i love you guys. write me letters!!!!

love you!!! sorry this email was kind of worthless - i sent a letter too! love you!!!