Week of August One FOUR: Photos are HERE! Enjoy the TOUR!!!

The drought is finally over!  After months of trial and errors with technology and cameras, our babes gave up and sent home their memory cards.  So......PICTURES GALORE!!!

First, Elder D!

 Elder D & his MTC companion

 Elder D moments before going under the knife to remove his tonsils during his first week in the MTC.  

 Christian and his first companion in Springfield and first baptism

 Elder D and his Greenie!  

"We must seek; we must find; we must baptize!! We will bring honor to our family!!"

Now, Hermana Kate Delis

 Sometimes Katie and her MTC companion were a little over zealous in their studies!

 It takes time to learn how to live with someone 24/7!

 

 First day on the job in Chicago!

 First Baptism in Woodstock, Illinois

Katie, her Mission President, wife and trainer

Katie as a ZEBRA! 1/2 Spanish & 1/2 English missionary

We hope you have enjoyed viewing our babes in action as much as we have!

Week of August EIGHT: One email came fast and the other LATE!

Elder D!

Subject: Man!!!  A week into the transfer, and it is going by faster each and every day...

Family!

Okay my week...On Monday night we tracted into a woman who was praying "to send Mormons to her so she could prove them wrong!"  On Wednesday we had a plan to teach the restoration and we were excited to have a member with us and it turned into a Bible bash!  We talked for 45 minutes after the lesson and each time we would say something and it did not matter, they investigators had to be right.  Then, I decided to just stop and testify.  So I looked at my companion and gestured him to stop talking.  He looked at me with quizzical face and I mouthed "you will see."  "Stop," I said and they just froze and all I remember saying was that the Book of Mormon is true and that "...you can test my words to know for yourself..."  It was an interesting debate.  We then left as soon as my companion bore his testimony and went to our dinner appointment.  We talked about how the discussion went downhill and were pretty discouraged.  Then about two days later the girl we were talking with texted us to see if we could come back.   So it was a success!  Crazy!!!  Other than this event, this week was filled with the usual; find, teach, baptize, you know the drill :).  So really that was the eventful story of the week.  I have to say, I am grateful for the way the Lord works.  It is AMAZING!!!

So let me think... Oh... I am really glad you are all well.  I am hoping nothing horrible happens and I can say that the Lord is watching over you.  And if anything happens, nothing will be too hard to handle.  Every struggle has a light at the end of the tunnel.  The light is Christ!  He will lighten your load if you try and do all that you can to be like Him.  (I can say this is something I am still working on.)  I am glad you are my family.  I love you so much!  Have a great week!  I am praying for you everyday!!!

Love!

Elder Christian James Delis

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Hermana Kate Delis

Subject: HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEEK!!!!

Hi, familia!!  Happy almost birthday to two-thirds of the house!!!  I am so excited for the Chrony--there is going to be so much to talk about!   You guys rock!

Okay.  Well, this week was so GREAT.  I love being a missionary.  Church ROCKED!!! Literally the best Sunday since being in the branch.  First, SUNDAY SCHOOL WAS FULL.  Normally there are like seven people there.  Four of which are missionaries.  I kid you not, ha.  But it was FULL!!  Oh my!  It was so great.  And some members that have been inactive for a long time came and the  branch just fellowshipped them like crazy.  It was incredible.  And we have a relief society again!!!  The president is so perfect--she gave a really powerful lesson on the atonement this week, and all of the women participated.  I really felt like they felt comfortable to participate which was great.  The love in the ward is really growing.  And testimony meeting ROCKED!!  The members  were so so great.  I was praying so hard that they would all be touched and want to bare their testimonies of truth.  THEY ARE SO AWESOME!!!  It was so great family.  I loved that day so much, and I am so grateful for it and for the love of this little branch.  I don't think they know how strong they really are.  I think lots of people doubt them.  But I feel so strongly that as we invite the ward to bare their testimonies to others--to help us in the missionary work--they will watch themselves strenghen this little branch.  THEY will be inviting people to come unto Christ.  I just know it.  This week we have FIVE member present lessons--FIVE!!  That is the number we have previously gotten in a MONTH.  And they were all so personally significant to the people we were teaching.  Funny enough, only one of the lessons was one that we had scheduled.  So we had a member, the investigator cancelled, so we visited other investigators with the member.  And we ended up being with exactly the people that we needed.  It was awesome.  I just know the branch will see miracles that THEY bring to pass as they bare their testimonies of the truth.  They rock. :)  I am so excited. :)  Also, we had to change the date for the our family baptism because they haven't come to church. :( But no worries, they are progressing, it will fall into place.  The work moves forward and it is incredible to just be here seeing it all come to pass.  I am so lucky.

Okay, I am way out of time today, AH!  I love you lots and hope the birthdays are awesome this week!! :)

Hna Delis

Week of August FIRST: Emails ALWAYS quench our THIRST!

Elder D!

Subject: Well...awesome news!!

This week has been a busy one every single day.  We had at least one lesson scheduled that did not cancel!  I am so stoked!!  I have to say that I am really really glad that we are actually gaining trust in both the wards we are working with!  This has been something that has been more far reaching than anything else that we do!  I am not kidding, the trust of members is really all that it takes!  To be honest, that is what is making the work here a little bit easier every single day!  For example we did not have a dinner appointment for tonight, but yesterday during a ward's correlation meeting, 4 people in the room offered to feed us!  YES!!!  The small thing we do as missionaries is nothing without the help of the members. (probably a lesson there for his parents :) )

Now another example of trust comes from a referral from a member that is going to be baptized on the 15th of August.  This man is so excited about getting baptized.  He bore his testimony on how he wants to have his kids say that what he did helped them to be apart of the church...this baptism will be the first in over 8 months for this particular ward.  This is a very long time.  In the other ward we are working with, they are treating us differently than when we first came.  I think we are really gaining their trust too.  One thing we are really trying to do is treat our missionaries as "GOLD" so the members can see that we are not wasting their time.  We are spending less and less time on how we can better ourselves and more time trying to become an asset to the wards.  The  bishop in this particular ward told us "the ward sees that you Elders are trying really really hard!  We all are now praying for inspiration to help."  It felt really good to hear this!  I am not going to lie, I am LOVING this area a lot...I guess that will mean I will most likely get transferred to a different area!  Please pray that I don't.  The more I am here, the more I feel at home.

Love you!

Elder Christian James Delis

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Hermana Kate Delis

Subject: HI FAMILIA!

Buenos tardes familia :) Feliz dia tres de Agosto! 

Okay.  Well.  Missionary work.  IT ROCKS!  This week was hard, but way good.  I just knew that my three weeks as a "zebra" was going to be my "Bountiful" as a missionary, which sounds so BACKWARDS, but is proving true.  I learned a ton, and I just felt so blessed the whole time.  And I am still so blessed, don't get me wrong.  But right now is just a HARD time as a missionary.  The branch is SO very small, and we feel a lot of responsibilty to help them.  We are trying to provide structure and stability where there isn't much.  Also, they need a lot, a lot, of love.  I don't think most of them now their great worth, and it breaks my heart.  Trying to help people to come unto Christ (missionary purpose) is hard, and it makes me feel crazy some days.  Like my ideas to fix problems are dumb, or they won't work, or are foolish or something.  Luckily that is never true.  They work just fine.  And in fact, I have great examples in the scriptures of people who had these crazy tasks ahead of them and everyone around them, even their family sometimes, thought they were dumb.  Or that they couldn't do it.  Or that they should just not even try.  I have no idea how those prophets actually felt when people told them that.  But I know that they did it--whatever thier "it" was--anyway.  It was probably so hard.  They were human, they felt every emotion we do, too.  But they do it. 

I know the Lord knows us individually, and that same power that worked to do something wild like part the Red Sea can work in us too. And it is just as powerful as parting the Red Sea.  He loves us so much.  We had this awesome lesson with a woman and she was just confused.  She had been praying and praying and she thought she wasn't getting answers, and that she just wasn't doing anything right.  I felt so so powerfully that those inadequacies were not from God, and I looked her in the eye and told her that I knew Heavenly Father knew her so well, she is successful, and He loves her.  I felt it, too.  SO strongly.  She started to cry, and I just know she knew it too.  Heavenly Father loves us so so much, and we see miracles every day just as powerful as any other you read about in the scriptures.  But they're so personal sometimes, because the miracle is in us.  I feel like as a missionary I get to help be the tools to recognize that love in thier life.  How cool is that?  It is beyond cool.  It blows me away.  I love these people so much, and I will show them that the very best I can.  But my job as a missionary is to give them the ability to recognize a love that is so so so much greater than any love I have for them.  I am so lucky to have this time.  This is everything I have ever wanted, and I can't believe I get to have it.  It is so hard, but I love it so much. 

Okay, I love you very much, and I hope your week is GREAT.  Keep having fun and tell all the fam that I love them so much. Talk to you soon!

Hna Delis

Week of July Twenty-FOUR: Hard work always opens DOORS!

Elder D!

Subject:  One is the field of many

How are you all doing?  Well family, it is the week of the 18th that I am covering.  I have to say that this week has been one that I am sure will be a good one.  Okay, so first, I am sending pictures to the house and you can download them (we hope we can actually do this!!!).  So involving the car...Dad that is NO fair!  I thought you were going to get the A5.  And what happened to the VOLVO????  Did it just explode????  Just kidding...but seriously!  I have to say that it was a shock to hear you got a BMW.  Please send photos of it and all the specs.  I would love to see everything about it.  I have to say I am jealous I am sitting in a 2007 Toyota Corolla and driving it all around!

So this week was transfers and I am still in Corvalis for the time being.  I am getting the hang of the area, I have already memorized how to get all over the place.  We (his companion and himself) everyday that this area will boom.  I have a feeling it will.  On Thursday we went to see an investigator.  The dad (We apologize for the vagueness of names.  Due to mission rules & for privacy purposes, we cannot use names of the individuals they teach or their companions our missionaries talk about.) is a truck driver and is out of town during the week and home on the weekends.  So after District meeting we felt like we needed to go to this family's home and ask if they would be interested in the lessons.  When we arrived noone was there not even the mom.  So were sitting and thinking of what else we need to do.  We are just sitting there and then we see his wife sitting there and then we see her driving up.  My companion and I look at each other and said.... "this is kinda awkward." (totally unified!  hahahaha you never realize how important that is until you have a companion you are not unified with)  So we are sitting there and tells us she is a grandma and is headed to Boston for two weeks to be with her grandson.  She asked for a blessing of comfort.  We gave her a blessing to feel comfort in her travels, to be safe and to know she can have a guiding hand through relying on Christ.  We were starting to leave and asked her if she wanted to learn more about the church, she replied, "YES!"...when she returns.  We have a solid investigator.  She loves the fact our church is so focused on families!  So yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss!  We getting finding investigators even though they are coming slowly, but I have to say it is awesome!!!  We also got a referral from church headquarters because someone asked to see the missionaries and we teach this guy this week!  I am stoked!!!

Love you!  Say "HI!" to the whole Delis family and Grandma Rose & Grandpa Dave for me!

Elder Christian James Delis

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Hermana Kate Delis

Subject:  Bu-bu-bu-buenos tardes! (Apparently she has acquired a taste for COW TONGUE and now has a STUDDER!!!)

How are you?  Ah. Vamos a ver, ha.  You're in UTAH!!! (Hispanics say "Joo-tah" ha ha :) )  How fun!  Tell everyone I say hello!  Hopefully all is going according to plans and seeing everyone is great.  Today is rainy and unusually cold, here.  It's a nice little relief!  Lucky Chicago missionaries!  Blessings galore.  Well I hope you are all doing great and give Andrew a punch or something from me.  Ha, jokes!  Punch them ALL! :)  OH!  DAD!  I am excited to see your sweet new wheels!!  That is so FUN!  Sorry you'll be without them while you are in Joo-tah!  Where's the Volvo? 

Well, this week was so so hard.  Ha, definitely the hardest on my mission yet, maybe even ever in my life, ha.  It was ridiculous.  Nothing super awful even happened, so I don't know how to tell you what was so yuck about it.  I just felt inadequate, really.  As soon as I got my new companion (who I LOVE by the way!  She is an AWESOME missionary and I just know she is with me in Woodstock for a reason!) and my Spanish just seemed to tank.  I felt like I couldn't talk, I felt like I wasn't teaching anyone, I felt uninspired, I couldn't get us around my area, I just couldn't DO things -- I felt so useless.  It was bad.  I was like everything yucky about me was RIGHT in front of my face and it was emotionally debilitating. Oh it was hard, fam.  I was on my knees more than normal, and I cried a lot.  Not in front of anyone, ha.  I don't think anyone even knew I was having a hard time.  But I was, and by Monday it was just really hard.  It wasn't like there was loads of temptation that I needed to battle or anything, it was just that the Lord was really molding me.  So it wasn't nasty, it was just HARD.  And it hurt a lot of times throughout the week.  So anyway, Monday after district meeting, I felt like I should ask for a blessing from one of the elders.  So I did.  I can't even tell you how important that blessing was to me.  I really think it was one of the most powerful moments in my life.  The blessing said that the Lord is SO very mindful of me, that HE knows me so specifically, and everything that is happening in my life right now--these challenges--are not only from Him but for me specifically because I need to become something so much bigger than I had ever even thought I could be.  He sees a potential in me that I never had, one that I have the privilege of becoming.  And at the end it said that my family is praying for me, and as I preach I will bare their name with honor. :)  That's you guys! Ha. :)  Anyway, since that blessing I have been so calm.  I know who I am and it's so simple: I am truly a daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves me so much, and I love Him. 

Okay, well I have to go.  I hope you are doing great and thank you so much for your prayers for me and my investigators.  WE FEEL THEM SO OFTEN.  They really make a difference.  Keep saying them!  Well, LOVE you lots and lots, and I will talk to you soon!!!

Hna Delis