Week 12

I am done with training.

Thanks for all the pictures sent.

We have the transfer info. Elder Mendez is becoming Zone Leader over me and is going to do English work. Elder Hernandez will remain my companion and become the replacement District Leader. I will remain here. 

This next little while might be stressful, It would be nice if I got a couple letters this next week.

Today, we have to stay with our zone in a stake center from 6-9 because people often dress up as missionaries and the mission president gets lots of calls. So we get to watch a movie.  The ones that they approved are: Megamind, Kung Fu Panda 2, How to Train Your Dragon, the original Star Wars series, Captain America, and 17 Miracles. Our zone voted  to watch Captain America.

I finally went all the way down to swan lake, the most southern part of the mission. It was a long drive.

There is this cool stuff called toe juice, it is made to get rid of  ringworm, eczema, rashes, circulitory problems, warts, and a lot of other stuff. It actually works pretty well. You can get it at Walgreens.

The other day the elders were talking about girls. I was working on making some more box duct tape cases for my stuff, I then messed up and said, "DA!!!!!!!!!". They all heard, "Daaang". I just happened to say that right as they said, "what do you think about that one girl?" It was so funny.

Elder Daniel Eliason

Week 11

I only have one week left of training. (^_^)

"I can smell the difference between a white person's fart and a brown person's fart" (Elder Lenahand)

I need to give you a update on my investigators.

Victor & Lucy, our original baptismal dates, are still not baptized because work gets in the way.  They have not been able to come to church since I have been in the area. We set a new date with them, but they still need to be more committed.

Francisco, the one that lives in the middle of nowhere, now has a date. He has been coming to church for 4 years straight. He even has to quad an hour to the location where the members pick him up. So he spends a total of 6 or 7 hours on Sunday just to come to church. His main concern is his family that live  in Peru. 

Patricia, who was almost baptized (She canceled her baptism when they were filling up the font the last time, which was about 4 years ago), now has a baptismal date. She just needs the strength to do it. 

We have this new, totally awesome, investigator that moved from Arizona. She used all the money she had to pay for rent. She has nothing: no beds, hardly any clothes. She has two daughters. One is staying with a friend in Idaho Falls. The other is 10 and lives with her mom. The older daughter will come to Pocatello when she has more stuff.  The Branch is helping out. She has a job, but she just barely got her first paycheck a couple weeks after we found them.

There are some interesting challenges with a third companion. It has been a bit frustrating at times. I will say that all our new dates and work we have can be attributed to our new companion. He likes being very focused. Elder Mendez is still very impatient. He likes being organized but he likes getting things done quickly so he can socialize with people. There has been a little bit of tension lately, but we still get along great.

On my mission, I have had many experiences with dogs. I am getting better at knowing what they are thinking. I have not had a dog attack me ever, but I have met plenty of dogs that are very defensive. You can tell which ones don't like you. The biggest secret is what the Dog Whisperer says, "no touch, no talk, no eye contact". That is the order in which they are the worst. Never touch a dog you don't know (I already knew that); do not talk: I have seen how that affects dogs that are nervous or defensive; do not make eye contact: this can set off dogs that are unstable. Above all: stay calm. Dogs can tell if you are nervous. They can read your body language like a book. 

That is what has been going on lately. 

I love you all.

Your missionary,

Elder Daniel Eliason

Week 10

I am almost done reading "Our Heritage", I already read "Our search for happiness", now I just need to read "Jesus The Christ".

My companion really wants to see some pictures of home. He wants to see a picture of the shop. So, I am just going to say, you should email me some pictures so I can show him where I lived. Thanks.

My Spanish is doing a lot better. I am understanding more specifics of what people are talking about instead of just the general idea. However, I still can't quite understand each sentence yet. I can read fine, but listening is a bit hard.

So, just a couple days ago, we were teaching a less active member. Their computer had a virus. You know the person to fix it. I had to stop a process that was bogging down the computer, then I got Malware-bytes to get ride of the virus. It found 240 infected files. It is interesting to try and explain what you are doing on a computer in Spanish. I mean, it is already hard enough to explain it in English.

So the answer to the last weekly question, about the chiasmus, is that it was discovered around the 1950s. I think it was more like 1930s. It is a written pattern of religious material. It is also called the Exodus pattern because it is contained a lot in the book of Exodus.

I do not have a new question this week.

My piano skills are getting better. 

OK. I believe I told you about this GPS system that they used to have in the mission cars called Ti-Wi. It tells you when you are going to fast and other stuff. Anyway, you pretty much need to drive like a old grandma in order to keep it from getting mad at you. Also, you can lose your driving privileges if you repeatedly do things to make it get mad. It is based on a point system, and you lose points every time you do something wrong. The worst part about it is that it takes away major points if you get an "Aggressive driving warring." Getting three of those will make you lose your privileges. It does that if you hit a speed bump to hard, or if you hit a curb, a pot hole, or if you change lanes to fast, go around a corner to fast, press on the brakes to fast, etc. 

Here is the thing. They are going to be putting them back into the cars next zone conference which is in December. 

Well, I need to go. I will talk to you later. I love you all.

Elder Daniel Eliason

Week 9

So, here in ID people will say "a couple 3."

Here are some other phrases.

Jocky Box (glove box)

Wagon (shopping cart. From Elder Beatty)

Slippers (Sandels. Also from Elder Beatty)

Borrow Pit (Ditch on side of road)

Here in the ID Pocatello mission we have to wear our suits from this last general Conference to the next. In the summer, from General Conference to General Conference, we only have to wear our suits after 6pm if it is below 90 degrees.

It has already snowed here. I am going to die in the wintertime because of the wind.

I got a new companion. We are now in a three-some. Elder Eliason, Elder Mendez, and Elder Hernandez. There were some major changes in the Spanish areas because a couple missionaries got sent home for surgeries that will take 6 months recovery. There have been a lot of injuries among missionaries here lately. The mission President banned exercising in the mornings with other missionaries. We are supposed to do it only with our companion.

Here in the winter time. We are supposed to practice drifting in church parking lots so we know how to handle the car if it ever starts to skid in the snow while driving.

OK, this is sort of funny.

After quite a while I told Elder Mendez that I only knew one joke about Mexicans. He insisted that I tell him and when I did he was laughing. Later that week he told me to tell someone else at a dinner appointment. I am glad he found it funny.

Week 8

OK. Funny Quote.

"This brain freeze hurts more than when I think." (Elder Mendez)

Answer to last weeks question.

The two prerequisites to faith are: hearing it, and having a soft heart.

The three steps are 

1. Desire

2. Action

3. Witness 

This weeks question.

What is Chiasmus  (I have no clue how to spell it)? 

Hint: It is in Alma 36 and Mosiah 5

Also, when was it discovered.

I only have one story this time. 

I was on exchanges with Elder Dollinger. We went to the ward mission leader's home. They have two dogs. One's name is Coco. They said that Coco is really shy and you are extremely lucky if she comes to you. I, using my amazing dog skills was able to even get this nervous dog on my lap. The whole family was in shock. I could describe why I think I was able to do it, but that would take a while, and I am not even sure if I am right. However, I don't think anyone else has any better ideas on why it happened. (^_^) 

That night, while I was with Elder Dollinger, I got sick. I started throwing up all night. It was so painful. My stomach muscles were so sore. I called Sis, Colton and got some help/advice. I slept all that day. I was able to get back to work the next day, but I was still as tired as anything else. Now I feel great. That was last Friday when I got sick. 

Love you,

Daniel Eliason

 

 

I WILL CATCH UP!

Wow, 4 months into Daniel's mission and I haven't posted a single letter from him, my bad. Sorry! I will be working the next couple of weeks at catching up.  Instead of starting at the very beginning and working down, I will be posting his most recent 2 letters and then I'll post all of the letters since he's been in the field, and after that I'll finish posting the letters from the MTC. I will include pictures along the way. :)

Daniel's loving and forgetful sister,
Michelle