Monday, July 28, 2008

July 28, 2008...pioneer celebration!

This week I received the most davage package of all time in the mail at Zone Conference. Thanks so much for the tape and candy.. and the mini fan haha that thing is sicky i love it.. i used it all last night.. it gets pretty hot and humid so we have to leave the windows open at night and my world gets rocked by mosquitoes.. but now i have my mini fan so i dominate them by means of highpowered foam fan blades...so yeah the package made my life.. as i was listening to the tape.. moms voice got way high and she sounded like alvin the chipmunk.. my companion comes walking in the room looks at me strange, then looks at the tape player 'daly, who is that" .... "my mom" ..."she sucking helium?" ... "no, thats the greatest person in the world, you got beef? ill destroy you" ... he walked away scared after that because he's only 220 and only lifted weights everyday during highschool. It really was an amazing composition though.. i loved hearing all you guys. You are dearly missed. And im sorry i dont ever answer your questions i do read your emails as well as jareds.. he's my inspiration and motivation when it comes to the work .. i copy and paste his emails into my presidents letters so that ill be the youngest A.P. of all time. And i can't remember any of the other questions you had.. i have an awful short term memory, its gotten bad out here.. umm i dont need anything from the states really.. lysha is right they have about the equivalent of everything here in europe.. they dont have way good face wash but i get by ok. i might need a few pairs of garments here in a few months.. but for now im doing alright. And ill send pictures next week i forgot my USB cord this week.. sorrki.

K.. kurcza i have a couple minutes left.. umm today was pday.. we went and served at brother magnuskis house out in the middle of The Shire, Poland.. we scrapped rust off of a chain link fence while he painted it..it was a pretty good time, learned a lot of Polish which is good.. umm k what else.. we had an investigator in church but he was kind of a crazy that stinnett met on the street.. he's an older gentleman and we are pretty sure he bats for the other team because he tried to hit on stinnett the whole time during sacrament meeting.. so we'll call that half an investigator in church... we met with piotr.. he found a job!! yeahhs... can't remember if i told you that.. he is going to start coming to church starting next week. So he is looking promising, hes such a good guy.. sorry i dont have time to go in depth about him.. i will next week.. we have another meeting with him this wednesday. woot. Didnt meet with michael.. i think he might be a goner.. umm we had a pioneer day celebration on saturday.. it was a lot of fun.. we had an english student come and chill, she had a good time.. we had about 60 people there it was incredible.. felt like i was back in the states. k highlight of the week as far as the work goes.. i was on a whiteboard in centrum and i was talking to this girl about.. 20 ish.. and she was rad sauce.. we were talking about religion in the world.. and just kinda like the state that the world is in.. i introduced what our church is all about and I bore testimony of the truthfulness of it as well as the book of mormon.. and yeah.. i dunno why it was so special.. she replied with an answer ive heard a couple times "its amazing you guys can stand out here and talk about Christ while people are passing by on every said worried about work, money, shopping, etc." and it was just one of those not all that common experiences where I felt like the Spirit was there and she could feel it.. that the heavens opened up for a split second and were present there among the crowds of people on a busy street in Poland.. kinda surreal sometimes. Just one of those little miracles that keep me going .

I love you all times a bjillion! Happy birthday Uncle Bob! Laners happy birthday in 10 dayysss yeaaaahs!!

elder daly

Monday, July 21, 2008

July 21, 2008.."If you could change one thing about life what would you change?"

Alrighty umm not as exciting a week as last week unfortunately. We had that meeting with Piotr which was alright. We read that ensign article together which was absolutely perfect for him. He made perfect comments after each section and he agreed with everything he read. And we kept asking him questions and testifying of certain principles in the article. We tried to show him how he could apply the things written to his own personal life. And he was just kinda like "ya sure" way nonchalantly. He kept changing the subject like last meeting. He told us that he really wanted to come to church but with his work schedule he might not be able to... he didnt yesterday unfortunately. My boy Adil said he was going to come to church but he didnt make it either.. so we went 0 for 2.. fiddlesticks. Michael took a little vaca down to Krakow this past week but im pretty sure he comes back today or tomorrow so maybe we'll get to meet with him again this week. So thats a little about the work. Not way exciting.. we talked with alot of poles... people weren't way open this week though. And it was most definitely pick on elder daly week as far as poland goes.. poles were being way big bully heads to me this week for some reason. the european guys are just jealous im better looking than them.. my accent is cooler... and i get to wear Christ's name on my chest. however that was all made up by one magical moment on the streets of poland...

we were on a whitebaord at ratusz aresenal.. just this street corner right by a metro stop. We were asking people the question "if you change one thing about life what would you change?" ... so we all start rocking and shocking.. people had some pretty funny answers... one guy i contacted looked at it for honestly a good 2 minutes in silence.. deliberated, pondered, reasoned, searched the depths of his being and simply said in polish "my wife" and walked away. Then ... there she was.. 5' 4'' ... 90 lbs... white hair... her face losing a recent battle to moles.. i kindly pose her the question on the white board... she takes the pen out of my hand and writes something along the lines of "in order that we will all be more loving and understanding" I replied "that is a way beautiful answer, thankyou" then she dives into telling me how she was one of the warsaw uprisers during world war II ... I was taken back and said... "i bow myself".. and i bowed to her. then she came up to me grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me forward then placed a kiss on my cheek.

I've been floating among the stars ever since.. probably the most action ill see for a long while. So that was my magic moment with a 80 year old Polish Babcia. My face.. still unwashed..

I love you family.. thanks again for the emails.. laena you crack me up with you and your american idol.. haha ...bryce avary owns him, no question.. that concert was probably a way good time though im jealous.

œciskam was serdecznie

elder daly

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

July 14, 2008...miracle-filled week!

Thanks for the love in the form of emails, sounds like y'all are having a blast... ja naprawdê jestem zazdrosny. dad i expect you to be throwing supermans by the time i get back. And i expect Uncle Bob to have his tour card and his own golf accessory line.

This week was pretty mirale-filled... Elder Stinnett and I threw down. I can honestly say this is the first companion I've had on my mission that shares the same level of energy as I do for the work, so this past week has been pretty sweet bonus, little different too. Our first meeting was with this 18 yr old kid named Michael that is polish but from Belgium. We contacted him on the street and set up for the next day. He's an interesting fella, he knows alot.. just like in general. alot. And he is one of those kids that can't be wrong. Anywho we sat him down and started to get to know him and then started teaching a first. But he had all of these questions adn we couldnt really get anywhere. We ended up talking about drugs for a good majority of it. He loves mushrooms.. and we arent talking pizza... or marios mushroom kingdom... he informed us that the only time he has ever had a spiritual experience was when he was on mushrooms. He doesnt really look or act like a drug addict.. he's a goodlooking, normal kid, incredibly smart.. but yeah he's a pothead. Kind of a bummer, but he said he'd have the book of mormon read (completely) in a week or two. It was an interesting lesson overall and yeah. Lesson #2 was with this guy Piotr that called us off of a pass along card (miracle) and wanted to be taught english and read from the bible. So we meet with him and he shows up in a nice suit, briefcase.. looked kind of like a JW to be honest so i was a little worried. We sit down and he starts telling us about himself in English and we told him why we're in poland.. he spoke pretty amazing english, way thick accent. We asked him what exactly he wanted to get out of the meeting.. like what he needed to work on as far as english, etc. And he proceeds to tell us his life story. He's 31 and has a Masters in Polish Law and a Bachelor's in Administration. But he can't find a job anywhere, he's interviewed at like a bjillion different firms and noone wants him. Apparently he didnt do too hot on the Polish equivalent to the U.S. BAR Exam so thats part of the reason. His girlfriend just dumped him and he is working at KFC pretty much non stop.. when he's not working there he is finding and interviewing for jobs... the man almost broke down into tears. He pulls out all of his resume stuff and his certificates of Law.. and he looks up at us with tears starting to well up and in this thick polish accent he pleads "i don't know what to do, please, tell me what to do" ... stinnett and i sit there, give each other a glance of "what the heck do we say" and i put myself in his shoes and said the first thing that came to mind. "piotr if i was you, id study my brains out and take that exam again.. maybe you'll be more ..more...i forget the word... like... able to get a job" then we tried to relate it back to the gospel because man i cant think of anything that would be better for him! But he kept changing the subject and wasn't really interested. We have another meeting with him tonight and we are reading an ensign article with him about overcomming trials, hopefully it helps him. Made me wonder to myself if thats going to be me in 10 years... still flipping burgers at the creamery on 9th because i cant pass o-chem. Anyways that was our meeting with midlife crisis man. Stinnett had another meeting where he passed off an investigator to the North Zone. We taught English.. what else.. had exchanges.. i went with Elder Henrie he's a 2 months in. He rocks I love him to death. And thats a wrap..

Poland is humid, i love it. :-) the people are the greatest in the world. Im way behind on letter writing i know im way lazy...

franch bread, franch fries, franch dressing.. and to drink ...peru


i got so much love for you all

elder daly

ALAENA'S AMAZING AMERICAN IDOL ADVENTURE

Here is my AMAZING AMERICAN IDOL ADVENTURE!! Let me start off by saying that this was THE best day of my life!!!! My friend, Sara, and I went down to the Big E Center in Utah for the top 10 Idols to perform on monday the 14th. We started out day off by heading down to the concert place at noon to meet the idols and get their autographs. Very few people knew about this signing thing. So there were like only 100 people there!!! And let's just say that the concert that night was SOLD OUT and that building holds like 20,000 people! We were getting a way good deal!!!!! We got there and waited for like an hour or so and got in line. Then their bus came and EVERYONE was just screaming and freaking out! It was crazy! They let a few idols go out at a time and saved both davids for last! Here are a few pictures. I took A LOT, but I only chose the good ones. Enjoy!


This is Sara and I waiting for david!!!! WE ARE SOOO PYSCHED!!!!!!!!!!!
I GOT A PICTURE WITH DAVID ARCHULETA!!!!!!!! I just about fainted...more from the heat though! haha He was soo nice! He even picked up my notebook that I dropped...and I did not drop it on purpose!! lol I was like juggling two cameras cause my friend was like wanting me to take a picture of her with him. So I was like dropping everything. He was freaking adorable! But he was way way tired and it was already 100 degrees. So I was sad that I didn't really get to talk to him. He had a long line to go through! But I got to hug him! YAY! My life is complete! :)
Oh MAN!! Here he is signing this lame notebook I had. I totally forgot to get stuff for him to sign! I was way sad! I had to get a notebook out of the car lol. But it was fine cause like a lot of other people forgot too. They started pulling out their wallets and purses for him to sign.
Not a very a good picture, but that was pretty much how far away I was from him!!! This song is "Apologize". LOVED IT!!! There were like three huge TVs above him as well.
Sorry this isn't a very good picture. I was pretty close to the stage, but I had to zoom in as much as I could!! So it doesn't look very sharp. He is singing AND playing "Angels" on the piano!! How much more talented can this kid get!?!
David can hit any high note!!! He is just flawless!! He sounded a million times better live. I have no idea how that is even possible! He is singing "Stand by me"
This was David's last song called "When you say you love me". It was the best song of the whole night! There were millions of girls screaming (including me!) on the top of their lungs for this song. It was insane! At the end, David was pausing to sing the last note and then all of a sudden he just starting tearing up and laughing! He couldn't finish the last note!!! I was like screaming and laughing. He said, "Look what you guys made me do!!" while laughing and crying. Then finally after like a minute of screaming, he finished it and then laughed some more!! SO CUTE!!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

July 7...settling in and playing guns

dobry dzien wam!

i got all transfered this week a whole 2 trainstops down from my old place. It was more difficult that it sounds though.. nevertheless i made it. I love my new companion he's a way funny guy.. still rocking and shocking too. We've had a lot of success just in the couple days we've worked together. This week nothing too exciting happened I'm trying to think of some of the highlights of my week... alright heres kind of a funny story.. kind of

last pday we went and play sports with everyone and the park. Elder McRae and I were hanging out shooting some ball and wat not... he got tired of me throwing down t-mac off the backboard dunks so he saw these polish kids playing "guns" with tree branches and well mcrae is from idaho.. he enjoys a good game of guns.. heck i do as well when occassion permits.. so him and i go find some tree branches and cautiously make our way toward this group of 10 kids.. they catch sight of us and send out their leader to talk some shop. The other 9 follow behind him a ways off. I ask him if we can play. He immediately asks if I'm a pole.. "no im american" ... "oh, well you guys cant play because we have already made plans and you wont understand the passwords" ... im like.."szkoda, but we are way good i promise." .... then all the sudden im not sure what happened, i think McRae fired the first shot... but they all start running after us.. i tried to lay down some cover fire but there were too many. The next 10 to 15 minutes they purused to run around the park after us.. it was all fun and games until they started javelin-ing their sticks at us. Luckily McRae and I are pretty quick so we came out unharmed. It was pretty fun though.. it was like 10 little polish camerons running around with tree branches.

Alright now the important stuff... the work. This week was kind of lame because it was transfer week and I was with Elder Deuel. We basically shopped and packed and cleaned (we had to close down our apartment) for three days before transfers. And then transfer day was what it usually is. Hectic crazyness.. missionaries coming and going.. helping people get all of their luggage on to moving trains .. saying goodbye to dying missionaries and hello to the new ones. We only had one new missioanry this transfer it was a Sister missionary (my death sister, she goes home with me). She's cool.. she's being trained in Gdansk. So basically that left the weekend to work and that's exactly what we did. Stinett is way good at the language so that has been kind of a breath of fresh air. We threw down and got a bunch of numbers which we are going to need a lot of because once again ive walked into an area book of absolutely no investigators ...woot... and since i left the north zone i had to hand off my investigators from ursus to the elders up there in the north. So yeah thats been the work ive talked to a lot of cool people the last few days.. and yeah.. i love it..i leave my testimony with everyone i can find and i know the Lord will bless me with people to teach whether it's now or in 10 months. I'm feeling baptism this transfer for suure! ..just gotta find someone first.. Oh and polish is good.. im still awful but i get by :-)

happy fourth of july! we just had a small little bbq with some half rate polish steak.. yumm hope yall had fun

happy birthday sydney! sorry i wasnt there with jashinsky to throw down enrique iglesias round 2... hope you took in the fireworks for me.. for some reason poland doesnt celebrate americas independence day.. so no fireworks.. lame i know.. i dont understand it either.

i love you family! you guys are my rock.. hope you are all doing amazingly.. if not hit me up and ill send you some european chocolate.. although lysha probably took home enough to feed a small village in madagascar.


elder daly