I thought I had died and went to Heaven

Elder Daniels Finally made it Montana after two good weeks in the MTC. He flew into Billings along with nine other missionaries.

"I am staying at a members home. They own a piano moving and tuning business, and they have a huge garage full of really nice grand pianos. My companion Elder Wolf, showed me the garage and I thought that I had died and went to heaven. It turns out that Elder Wolf is learning piano and so we go in there and practice every day for a little bit. The weather has been perfect. There is so much work that we have to do in this ward though. Right after my companion picked me up, we went to Wal-mart to get some food and we saw one of our investigators working there. He is a really good guy but he has a lost soul. We already have one person on date for baptism."

The MTC - Week One

The first week in the MTC was a busy one for Elder Daniels. Shortly after drop off, he ran into some kids he went to high school with, not sure if he has seen his best friend who entered the MTC a week earlier.
While Elder Daniels stayed busy, his family at home waited day by day for his first letter to arrive.  As a missionary, he only gets one day per week in which to do laundry, write letters/emails to family and friends, and any thing else that needs to be done for the week, such as grocery shopping.

And he's off.

We as a family were able to write letters daily, that were delivered directly to his MTC mailbox. Elder Daniels received those letters daily, but could not respond until his preparation day (P-day).
We also learned that some missionaries don't get a P-day their first week in the MTC and that it could fall on day 8, 9, or 10. It was a little strange writing letters/emails each day and not to receive a response back after 7 days.
On day 8 the first email from Elder Daniels was received. The opening line of the email read.

"What a week! I thought that I would be missing you a lot, but the truth is, I haven't because I am so focused on the work ahead. "

"When I got to my room my host said that there are what missionaries call "narnia holes." I thought it was a weird term. Basically, the previous missionaries in dorm rooms hide candy, letters, or a list of all the missionaries in that room in like the outlet holes. It's kinda like a time capsule thing. We found one in the outlet hole that had a list of missionaries that stayed in that room. The oldest year that we saw was in the late 80s. So I thought that they were here when dad was here, but my roomies think that the elders were faking it. We all put our name on that list and hid it again in the outlet hole."

His dad served in Brazil from 1989-91,  and spent 2 months in the Provo MTC, but never heard of a "Narnia hole".

He said the food is good, but would certainly like a greater variety of food. He said that it seems to rotate about every 4-5 days, so he has already eaten the same thing twice in the first 8 days. He was excited to find the ice cream freezer which is available each Sunday and Tuesday.

Eternal "Life" for breakfast please.

Elder Daniels and his companion were called as a zone leaders, and they get to take people on tours of the MTC, he is pretty excited to do so. One thing that he has learned, is that anything you do or say can and will affect those you are teaching.
 Next Tuesday is the day to head off into the Billing Montana mission field, and the first plane ride, or at least the first one that he can remember.

To end his email he said, "My time is up, keep sending me letters."
 Peace out, Elder Daniels"

The Story of the Bumble Bee

"It is a scientific fact that the bees body is too fat for its wings, and the bumble bee had a lot of oppositions and fears. That because of the awkwardness of its body, it would not be able to fly, but one day it just got up and flew away."
                                                                                                                     


Now what is the moral of the story?

Even though fears are keeping you from doing what you want to do, you do it anyway and you will not regret it.

Missionary Training Center drop off

Today was the big day for the Daniels family. It was the day we have all been waiting for, and sort of dreading at the same time. The day finally came for Elder Daniels to enter the MTC for his short two week stay. It is certainly a day with mixed emotions, as Elder Daniels is going on to do the work of the Lord. Sad to see him leave us for two years, but excited, proud, and grateful for the work he will be doing during his time in the MTC and in the Billings Montana Mission.

You could see the excitement in his eyes, as well as a bit of nervousness for what lies ahead. Today marks another day in the life of Elder Daniels, that will be life changing, not only for him, but for others that he will come into contact with in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. As Elder Daniels said in his "farewell" talk last Sunday, this begins the 1st of 104 scout camps, refering to the time he will be away from home, as not 2 years, but 104 weeks of scout camp.

The work being preformed is much more important than the work done at scout camp. Elder Daniels will be blessed, and will bless the lives of others.

Farewell

Elder Daniels had his farewell, or send off talk Sunday March 30th 2014. His was extremely thankful for all those that came to hear him talk, wish him success, and support him has he heads off to the Billings Montana Mission.

During his talk Elder Daniels spoke of different uniforms that he had worn in the past, such as a Boy Scout uniform, or a high school golf team uniform. Then said that the uniform he will be wearing for the next two years, as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was the most important uniform that he will put on in his entire life.

He spoke of how the characteristics mentioned in the Scout Law, are all attributes of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those characteristics are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. See John 6:38, John 15:13, and Matthew 26:39 for a few scriptural support.

One of the funniest moments of the talk was when Elder Daniels said that the longest he had been away from home to date was for scout camps which lasted a week. Now this will be just like going on 104 consecutive scout camps

Elder Daniels talked about times in our lives when we have to make choices, and we can chose to be like Jesus and do as He would do, or we can make the choice the Christ would not have done. We need be like Jesus, even when the choice is hard.

Elder Daniels also played an arrangement of the song We'll Bring the World His Truth.

The word of the song are:
We have been born as Nephi of old
To goodly parents who love the Lord
We have been taught and we understand
That we must do as the Lord commands
(chorus)
We are as the army of Helaman
We have been taught in our youth
and we will be the Lord's missionaries
to bring the world his truth

We have been saved for these latter days
to build the kingdom in righteous ways
We hear the words our prophet declares
Let each who's worthy go forth and serve
(chorus)

It was a great talk, and song played by Elder Daniels.
This was followed up with a get together with family and friends.