Two Letters In One Envelope : )

This letter was written in two parts
Feb 25
Dearest Mother,
I love you so much and I cannot wait to hear from you.  Every time I check the mailbox or my email, I jump for joy when I have mail.  I love you and the family so much.  I really miss Taylor and the little ones a lot.  I miss my mountains so much but I am discovering mountains here in Pekin we must climb and overcome, such as - investigators who don't keep committments and "Great grandmothers dying" or unhelpful members.  Or our car having to have rust spots removed from the roof of it, for a couple days in the body shop.  they may seem like small things but together they make things move very slowly for us.
I am realizing now how mean people in Star Valley are to the missionaries, we don't give them much help at all except for the occasional meal.  After my mission and college I want to live where there is not a very strong member base so that we can change that and always be helping nonmembers come unto Christ.  I think that is kind of what people mean when they say 'member missionaries'.

I finished studying Jacob today and it is amazing how you can apply Jacob 5 to most aspects of member life and missionary work.  Obviously the servants are missionaries, members, and the leaders in our church, but if you dig a little deeper you start to see aspects of the atonement popping out at you and how to properly use repentence.  I love the scriptures so much.  On that note I want to challenge Taylor  to read the Book of Mormon before  July 22 and write me about it.  But I want him to do it a special way --  I want him to, at the end of each time he reads, go to Moroni 10 and read verses 3-5 and really follow what he says about pondering then praying.  His scripture study will change forever.  In fact everyone preparing for a mission should do it that way.  No EVERYONE should do it that way.

Thursday  Feb 28, 2013
We invited a dad in a part member family to prepare himself for baptism on the 30th of March yesterday!!!  His 8 year old is getting baptized then and we wanted to help her get a testimony of the church and maybe teach him.  He comes to church each Sunday and he has been taught by the Holy Ghost through his Church attendance.  His name is Christopher.  Please have the family pray for him.  He and his wife have 3 kids by the way.  Alexis 8, D.J. 6, and Aleah almost 2 her birthday is March 31st.

Please have everyone continue praying for little Jacob Johnson.  He is 9 years old, and he isn't keeping his commitments very well and I am worried about him.  His mom and dad have divorced and his dad is not a member  therefore he only comes to church once every two weeks.  We are now planning on having to move his baptismal date back.  We need to have him show us his conversion by coming to church consistently despite adversity.
Mom I mss you guys so much.  Every day I look our my front door and I get a little homesick. There is a decent size lake across the road (maybe the size of Cottonwood only a mile long)  and that lake reminds me of all the good times I have had with Dad fishing.  Sadly fishing is against the rules here for missionaries.  This homesickness is good however-- it encourages me to keep doing better and to never give up no matter what.

Well sorry this letter has taken so long to write.  We only write on Pday or on special occasions like the Thursday entry to this letter.  I wanted it fresh on my mind.

Your faithful missionary, Daniel  

note:  at the end of his hand written letters, Dan likes to do a rubbing with his colored pencils from his nametag.  I love it--  here is a pic of it.  I am so grateful to have such a wonderful son, serving the Lord with all his heart.From the beginning, even before he left, he has taken the nametag seriously.  It is very real to represent the Lord, and he has received great blessings already that are so powerful and so strengthening to him and to us.