Just a few more days

Happy New years!

This will be my, Daniel's, last blog post before I leave on my mission. In this blog post I will go over some of my new standards and what I will be doing for the next two years. After this blog, my parents will take over. This Tuesday, I will be set apart as a missionary. 

Missionary Schedule

As a missionary I will be following a very organized schedule along with raising my standards. I will get up at 6:30AM each morning and then after a very busy organized day I will go to my bed at 10:30. 

In the next week, I will get set apart the last day of 2013 and then I start my service when I enter the Missionary Training Center on the 1st. This is where I will learn how to teach the gospel better. I will be in the MTC for about 12-14 days. 

As soon as I enter the MTC I will have a constant companion with me. This companion will always be in very close by. When I fly out to California we will eat lunch, go to Temple hill, eat dinner and then I will be assigned my first companion and we will begin work the next day. In these 2 years I will not be able to text, get on Facebook or play video games along with a lot of other things. I will be allowed to listen to approved music that uplifts. I am also allowed to email friends, family and others. Though I will only have one day to use email and for a limited time because I will be very busy. I won't be able to see family in my mission. 

There is so much that I am not able to go over all the standards, but a few other major rules are that I am not able to swim, if you would like to know why, read the bible. I will not be able to flirt! If you would like to know all of them you can read the Missionary Handbook.

Also, just a side note. Thank you if you have bee apart of my life because everyone has helped me get to this point. I hope the best to you all, and please do send me emails and letters :-) 

Two mini Farewell talks!

This past week has been good. I am currently in Broomfield, Colorado! Last week though, I was in Bountiful, Utah. I gave my farewell talk in each ward. In this blog post, we will go over some events that have occurred this week due to going on a mission soon and then I will talk about my farewell talks.

This week has been a good week. On the 18th of December, I ended being an employee for Supply Link. It has been great working for such a good company! We ended with a dinner party at "The Roof" in Salt Lake City! The next day I flew to Colorado and it took about 6 hours from point A to point B because of the heavy snow fall in Utah. 

Last week Sunday, I was able to give a mini farewell talk at the Mills Park Singles ward in bountiful. I was asked to talk about why I have decided to go on a mission and what I have done to prepare for it. Today, the 22nd, I was also able to give my farewell talk at my home ward in Colorado, Broomfield 1st ward. I feel it a good idea to combine both in this blog. Just a heads up, there will be pictures once my weekly letters to home start in a few week! Please do keep coming back and join the Facebook Group! 

I would like to share some stories that have helped me prepare for my mission. Having moved a few times and having lived in three different countries has helped me learn how to adapt to change a lot better. But the thing that has helped me learn how to deal with change was when I moved to Salt Lake City to live with 4 other strangers to go to college. This was probably one of the biggest things that I faced at that time because I felt like my whole support system had been pulled away from me, I would now have to cook dinner for my self, I would have bills to pay, and so on. I was very homesick, but after a blessing which my room mates gave, I was able to view life as the plan of salvation teaches us, and I was able to know that this was just for a short time. I am grateful for the friends that I was able to meet during these last few years as they have helped me grow and learn.

It has taken me some time to get to this point, but I feel it has all worked out perfectly. I was also able to receive my Patriarchal Blessing about half a year ago and that was such a blessing to be able to get that and to see the importance of going on a mission in my life mission. I know Heavenly Father wants me to go on a mission and I know it will not only benefit others, but also me as I have been able to observe those people who have come back from an honorable mission and how it has affected them.

I have also prepared by going to mission prep and talking to a lot of friend about their missions. The best thing that has prepared me the most is gaining a testimony.

I would love to share my testimony with you today. I know that Jesus lives and also loves us all! I know that He died so that we may have the opportunity to return to live with Him and Heavenly father again! I know that the priesthood is real! I know that when we keep the commandments that we are blessed! I know that we can live with our families together forever! I know that this Church is very true and I know that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God who guides us TODAY. I know that the Book Of Mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and I know that the Atonement is real.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.