November 26, 2012 Hey Family! Happy Birthday Nan'sauce! Goin' on 34! Well your birthday was also our PDAY! so in honor of you, we played some futbol, and ate at some fast food place ($$$). Okay, Lourdes gave me some socks when I left Rodeo del Medio last week, and I played in them and I got a super HUGE blister on my foot! What the what? Good thing we have p-day today, and a day full of meetings tomorrow, so I won´t have to walk a ton on it till Wednesday. Well lots of things have acontecered in the past week. Monday, I had to finish buying some stuff for the Rodeo dpt. and on the way back from a store in the night time, a random old man who was watering his dirt responded to my mostly normal greeting of "hola" with "espionaje! Espionaje!!! No hay nada de Jesus en tu religion!" So that was good. We kind of laughed, and then I whispered into my sleeve some gibberish and we kept going. Tuesday, I went to go say goodbye to a few members and a few investigators and converts. I have about a million pictures of dirt, hands, and different peoples bottoms because Bruno, the 10 year old Padilla child got my camera and wouln´t give it back. It was great though, and not sad to say goodbye to anyone because we always took a big group picture... well, 2, one serious one, and one goofy one, which most people here are not used to. I had an amazing experience with the Gutierrez family. When I told Lourdes I was leaving, she started crying and bore her testimony to us and it was really powerful. Before we left, she asked if we would give her and her daughter a health blessing. She told us how heart-wrenching it has been for her as a mother to see her daughter go through her life as a different person. She has some sort of issue, and no one really knows what it is, but if you met her, you would realize it. Well Lourdes told us that she knew she would be cured if we gave her a blessing. We obviously agreed to do it and Elder Larsen anointed and I acted as voice in the sealings. The Spirit was strong, and I felt guided in what I was saying and according to our faith, they both will be healed. It was definitely a unique experience and I am really glad that I could participate. On Wednesday, I moved about 10 minutes away to Santa Ana and its been great since then. Elder Whittle is a great Elder, and I am pretty sure I am going to kill him (that means I will be his last comp). Anyways, the ward is great, we have a ton of investigators and I am really excited to work here for a couple months. Thanksgiving was great. Elder Bjerke (like beer-key) who has about 8 months and is the youngest in our dpt. pointed out on Thursday morning that it was indeed Thanksgiving. I looked into my healthy spinach-banana-apple-oatmeal-and-flaxseed shake, smiled and finished it very contently. Hope you all had a good week. I am doing GREAT. Sweating a fullll, but besides that, really good. Mom, I need some Lotrimin cream I think. That is all I can think of. My garments are getting pretty missionaried, but I think they will make it. Love you guys a tonne. Elder Daybell

Dear Willder Daybell, (Letter from Will's brother Jeff) November 20, 2012 I am so glad you are on a mission. I feel like I am receiving blessings for your hard work-so thank you jajaja (pronounced cha-cha-cha) It is exciting and sad to think this time next year you will be back at school, doing PT, studying, dating and all the other stuff that goes along with being a "normal" 21 year old. With that in mind, keep your eye on the prize. Returning "with honor" will have significance to you and will set you up to want to "return with honor" from everything that you do in your life. You will crave good grades and study for them, you will want to be the best in ROTC and will accomplish it, you will want to have a successful marriage-so you will pick the female God intends for you to be with, not just to satisfy lust or desire. I am excited to read your emails every week and monitor your progress, it sounds like you are thoroughly engaging the adversary and it appears that your battle space is getting stronger. I think about what I could have done differently as a missionary to be more successful and one thing continuously comes to mind...I should have waited and gone with you-that would be awesome! Imagine proselyting..."Buenos Dias, Soy Elder Daybell y el es mi companero, Elder Daybell." Well I thought I'd share a quick way that might be a fun way to turn your planning session into a full on assault in your area. (you know I LOVE the military and the church...so if you put them together and they have a baby-this is what happens) So take the 5 paragraph OPORD and tweak it to wage a spiritual war instead of a physical war-and yes I believe the great War heroes/Prophets of the Book of Mormon used similar planning when preaching the good word. Situation Terrain and Weather: (Changes according to transfers) How will terrain/weather affect us and our investigators this week? Enemy Forces: Any possible threats to investigators physical or spiritual success this week? What might impede them from completing los dasafios? Friendly Forces: Who can we rely on to help us teach them how to feel/recognize/love the spirit? Attachments/Detachments: What do we need to do to maintain the Spirit with us? Who will be with us at each lesson from the ward? Mission Area X will teach x lessons, contact x people, and commit x people to baptism in the vicinity of (area X) no later than (day you report statistics) in order to further destroy Satan’s grasp on Gods turf. Execution Commanders intent: My intent is for the companionship to develop the spiritual health of those under my stewardship and save more of God’s children from the pains of sin. Concept of the Operation: Phase 1: Personal Preparation and Mission Readiness Phase 2: New Contact Phase 3: Teaching Phase 4: Committing Phase 5: Re-consolidation and Reorganization Scheme of Maneuver Phase 1:Phase 1 will begin with preparation day activities and will be continued everyday with pre-deployment preparation consisting of (whatever your studying plan is) Phase 2: Phase 2 will begin by harassing all individuals within the confines of our assigned battle space and securing teaching commitments with them Phase 3: Phase 3 will begin by planning and preparing for lessons to be taught to new and continuing investigators (get specific) Phase 4: Phase 4 will begin by committing everyone to come to Christ following the spirit and lesson prompts Phase 5: Phase 5 will begin by reviewing each lesson taught and identifying improves and sustains (After Action Review). Sustainment Meals-VERY IMPORTANT Financial Planning-VERY IMPORTANT Medevac Plan-What to do in case of emergency/bathroom issues-you know what I mean Command and Signal Location of Commander: Spirit follows at all times Succession of Command: God-Jesus-Spirit then Mission President Signal-Primary means of communication is via the Holy Ghost, Secondary is via Face to Face, third via phone/email. Anyway, I just finished thinking of this and thought it might be fun for you. I love you very much Elder and I am excited for your future. Focus on what your doing now and let God emplace the post-mission factors for you. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and know we are thinking of you. Love you brother, Jeff

November 22, 2012 He heyyy familiia!! Guess what? Me voy. We got called by the assistants last night at about 10:42 PM (WAY past my bedtime by the way) and they told us the transfers for our zone. I am leaving Rodeo del Medio after 6 months! So where am I headed? Guaymallen! My new zone is called Guaymallen, and my area is called Santa Ana. I am really excited. My new companion is named Elder Whittle, and he was trained by my favorite missionary I have met so far (if you can choose favorites), Elder Reininger. I will probably kill him (meaning I will be the Elder to send him home) because he only has 12 weeks left. I am really excited, and I will be in the same pension as a really cool elder I know, Elder Gutierrez from Texas/Mexico. Besides that, we had a really good stake conference yesterday, and I was really glad to see Hermana Gutierrez there. She is such a blessing! I love seeing the little things change in her life... For example, even though its not at all necessary to wear a skirt to church in order to be able to attend (most people in Rodeo don´t have that kind of luxury) she has started to wear a skirt. She reads the Book of Mormon on her own initiative with her non member son Juan Pablo, and I feel very comfortable leaving her because I know that she is the kind of person that recognizes light and clings to it when she finds it. I look forward to hearing what happens this next transfer, and I will be really only 10 minutes away from my old capilla, so when we finally get the 3 or 4 people we are working with baptized, I might be able to go... We shall see. Anyways, I am doing really good. It has been a great run with Elder Larsen, and I feel like I have learned a lot from him and have grown by being his companion. I am really excited to see how his mission goes. I don´t really know any of the people that leave this transfer, but we lost at least some zone-leaders and one assistant. Elder Tilleman is the new assistant and he probably will be for the next 24 weeks. He goes home one transfer before me. I don´t really know him, but he is a descendant of Ezra Taft Benson so.... you know he´s gotta be a super capo. I am excited and a little nervous for this transfer. Elder Arnold, the area president is coming here in December... Last year when Elder Aduikitis (sp?) came, we got taught really well on how to plan, and so I am excited to see what Elder Arnold does here. Excited because its going to be a great experience to hear him talk, and nervous because he is going to have a 1.5 hour sesh extra with the leaders and so... I am just excited! Anyways, I am doing great. Ready to start a new area, new companion, everything. It has been a good while here in Rodeo, and I will always remember the people there, including members, non-members, and my two companions, Elder Steeves, and Elder Larsen. Great people. Love ya a tonne (UK) Elder Daybell

Hey Family! This week was a good week. We were successful in finding a lot of families and we were very blessed because we were able to get into a lot of new houses. We also did a lot of work in other areas to help and so its been a while since we could do a lot in our area. Besides that it was great. We did two or three really big service projects. One afternoon we planted a LOT of tomatoes and that took about 2 hours. It is the second time we did it, so in the picture that is just of the field, you can see what we did the first time, and all the brown is where we just did. It was way fun though, and now I appreciate it more when I eat vegetables.... It is HARD work! The other service thing we did was for the Gutierrez family. Finally! We have been waiting for this for about 5 months and they just invited us to help them varnish their new house (most people here build their own houses unless they are wealthy). So we went and varnished the wooden roof of a room about the size of our old brown living room in VA, but double. It took a long time, and I was balancing on a couple of old fruit crates to reach the top. I was SO exhausted after, but Elder Larsen and I finished it and after, they gave us an asado (which is like a BBQ, but not quite... NO sauces allowed. Just lemon and salt) which was very good. I feel like we gained a lot of respect from the dad and some of the kids that we haven´t really gotten to know before. The other thing we did was move a bunch of train track ties for a sister in our ward. I don´t know if I should´ve been worried about where she got them, but she said that they make great firewood in the winter..... So if you hear about any huge train wrecks in the coming weeks in MZA, you know why. I am pretty sure this same hermana did the "Fun with Dick and Jane" approach when it comes to gathering common goods... just take a little bit from everyone in the city. Anyways, our baptisms.... ohh them...... I don´t really want to talk about it. But they didn´t happen. And now they won´t happen until next transfer because we can´t baptize anybody this weekend because of stake conference. So I doubt I will be here for 5 transfers... I am pretty sure this area is up and running to a point where they will just baptize a ton of families next transfer and after. Graciela and Matias will have to do it now in a couple weeks. ahhhhhh I am doing good. I think I had more stuff to say, but unfortunately, se me fue che! I hope you all have a good week, and a good day, and a good lunch if that's what you are in to, or whatever. love ya like an Argentine dog loves dirty diapers (a lot) Elder Daybell

Hey Family! November 5, 2012 This week was pretty great. We had a baptism! Emmanuel is the son of a member, but didn´t get baptized at 8 because the mom didn´t think he was ready. Well we taught them some things, and they ended up being really excited for him to get baptized. It was definitely a miracle, because we were going to baptize a family this weekend and it fell through again... so I was happy to at least help Emmanuel come closer to Christ. The picture of the random guy was taken at the baptism too... I made some killer banana bread, and Elder Larsen made something called Biscochuelo, which is just like cake, but not as sweet. They eat it here a lot with the yerba mate. I love this picture though because the hermano, Hno. Camino, is kind of a clown, and second of all because the Bishop´s wife on the bottom right-hand corner is the BEST photo-bomb I have ever seen haha... The one of my foot... Well one of the pairs of shoes I have (the rockports... tell every future missionary to not buy those!!! they break down SO quick!) has pretty large holes in both of the soles, and so after a good day of walking, my feet get pretty brown.... pretty nasty huh? For that reason, I took out 250 pesitos from my personal card to get them fixed (both pairs) and also to finally dry clean the bird poop out of my suit... The good news is thats only like $60USD though haha. Anyway, this week was just way great. Today we are going to have a huge asado and soccer game again, like last month. I really like our district. We are all good friends which is nice. Although, one of the hermanas in my district is a convert of 4 years, and is the only member of her family. I guess her family hasn´t written in a couple weeks and she is trying really hard to not be sad about it. So, thank you for writing me every week. I love you guys! Lourdes is such a BOSS!!!! she is the one that got baptized about a month and a half ago. She is such a strong member of the church and I am so excited to see what happens to her in the future! She also really wants to meet you guys a lot. She was so ready to receive the Gospel. With Graciela this week, we have seen a lot of improvement. Really, She has changed a lot since we met her over 4 months ago, but it is so amazing to leave her with the homework to read something, and then pray about a specific doubt she has. I love it! She has faith, and gets answers to her prayers. Every time we go over, she has less and less doubt, and last week we went, and she said...(finalllly) "Yo me quiero bautizar.... solo me falta eligir una fecha..." Translates to, I want to get baptized. I just have to pick a day to do it! So this coming Saturday.... We shall see. Keep her in your prayers porfa We have stake conference on the 18th of Nov, and I am really excited. I can´t wait to have our recent converts and some new investigators come to it and hear the Good News. I am doing really good. I hope you are too. Everyone was talking about Sandy and telling us that like 30-hundreds of people were killed, so I was a little worried, but not too bad because... I knew you would be fine really. I hope that's the case with everyone, and that you are happy, healthy, and enjoying life. Love ya a tons! Happy election week (right?) Elder Daybell

Hey Family! This week was pretty great. Elder Larsen is pretty smart and so I often ask him questions when they come to me. I don´t care if he actually knows, or if he makes it up but the answers are really interesting. A question that I had this week is, do bees have ears? You see, in my current area, there are about 3 neighborhoods that we work in. In between these 3 places is a lot of nothing. Usually a good 20 minute walk in between all the places, walking through the desert. So muy a menudo random questions come to the head. Its also getting hot here, and so being outside in the siesta is probably starting to affect me a little bit. :) Anyways, I don´t know if you would like to hear a funny story from my ward, but here it goes. One of the counsilors? of the bishopric is a pretty recent convert, and I think he is a pretty interesting guy. He has been asked to say the opening prayer in our priesthood class twice, and the 2 times that he has done it, he gets up in front of the class and says, "Buenos dias hermanos.... I am grateful to be able to say the prayer this morning, Ojalá que sea una clase muy buena, que podamos aprender algo lindo.... en el nombre de Jesucristo, amen." So I have never been prayed to before but... Its always kind of funny to look him in the eye as he prays to the general body of the Priesthood here in Rodeo del Medio. This Saturday, we have a ward activity, followed by a couple of baptisms. We are going to go out and knock doors in a few barrios here in Rodeo. Its great, but we don´t really work like that anymore. The last time we did this, we didn´t find anyone who could progress right now, and so I am interested to see what happens this Saturday. I think its very cool that we have members willing to do that, because I don´t know how that would go over in some places in the states. People are just used to sharing their beliefs here with everyone, whenever they want. Yesterday we did divisions with the Zone leaders and Elder Christensen and I received a referencia for a guy who "knew everything." We went, and knocked, with the intention of sharing the Book of Mormon with him. About halfway through my introduction of the Book, he told me how he had died, went to heaven, and was sent back. He knows everything, and doesn´t need to read anymore scripture because he has ALL of it memorized. Just letting you know, in case you had any questions. His name is Julio :) Well I am doing really well, despite this somewhat critical letter. Sorry! I hope you are doing well. Love ya a ton and a half! ELder Daybell

October 22, 2012 Hey family! This week was pretty good. It was really hard. It was the best of times, and the worst of times haha... We just had a couple of baptisms fall through which is hard because the people had a lot of annoying temporal things to worry about this week and so those got in the way.... We will see what happens this week. I gave blood again on Saturday and that was great. We got blessed with lots of cloud coverage for the rest of the afternoon that day so it was really good because we would probably have died haha. Anyway besides that and the fact that our baptisms fell not much happened this week, but only because everything we did pretty much went around those. We were able to find a lot of good potential families that could progress in these next couple weeks which was good. It has been way hot this week. I had forgotten what its like to be pretty much always in 90-100º weather even at night. But really its been a little chilly in the nights and so its great to sleep without sheets or anything. I am going to have to start changing shirts everyday now haha... ohhh if people only knew how gross it is to be a missionary sometimes. Not me obviously :) I was referring to others. This really really wide screen that I am using right now makes this email look way small... I hope it looks bigger to you guys! I just don´t really have a lot to say about the week. I have been studying in DyC lately and its been way awesome. There are several sections that are addressed to William .....I don´t remember his last name now, but I have enjoyed them because its like they are just to me. I am in section 71 and I want to finish by the 20th of November so I think I can do it. Probably faster than that but we´ll see. I am still working on finishing all the standard works in english and spanish and I still have a lot to do... Anyway I am thankful for you keeping us in your sweet hour of prayer and we see the blessings. Please continue to pray for our investigators, and for opportunities to share the Gospel with your friends and families. You are very important to the obra misional! Love ya Elder Daybell