Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Humbled 7/14/2014

Oh my this week wasn't a very good week. Again we only had one investigador attend church. It's very frustrating when you are trying to do everything and still nothing is working. We call them Saturday and Sunday and we even pass by their houses to try and bring them to church, but everybody has an excuse. I don't know if I'm just ungreatful or prideful but we should be having more success than this. I should just be happy with the success that we are having but its difficult when you think you're improving and becoming a better missionary, only to be disappointed.
Nothing really exciting happened this week. I went to Veracruz Friday morning to sign my visa and get all that stuff squared away. 
We had to leave behind a few of our investigadors because they weren't attending church. They had a ton of questions and doubts and all of them had a common thread; The Book of Mormon. Obviously they hadn't been reading the Book of Mormon so I tried to encourage them by telling them that they wouldn't have these doubts if they would just continue to read it. I then showed how the book of Mormon and the Bible support one another. That's probably the hardest thing about a mission; When your investigators don't complete their commitments. Now I know how Dad always felt when he asked me to load the dish washer and I wouldn't do it. 
Anyways this week we have to double the effort even more so we can find new people to teach.

 Love you all and have a great week!!

Elder Dial

No Celebrating here but Happy 4th of July!

So before I forget again, I want to wish everyone a Happy (late) 4th of July. They don't celebrate it here so I completely forgot about it until I wrote in my journal that night. I'm glad to hear Trey will be alright. That is a testimony builder for all. I would also like to add my testimony of the power of fasting. Last Monday I had been fasting because we hadn't found any new investigators to teach. So I decided to fast. After I had ended my fast we left and went to work. We didn't find any new investigators until Thursday and Friday. The Lord really does answer our prayers. Not always in the way we want or in the time frame we desire but he does answer them. Trey wasn't instantly healed, but the Lord heard the prayers of his faithful people and provided the way for Trey to surpass this affliction.
This week has been pretty normal. Our new mission president arrived. Yesterday was another rough day. None of our investigators showed up to church. We went to pick them up but they were all "busy." Sometimes I just don't know what to do. When I'm trying to do everything right, everything goes wrong. It's just the part of missionary work. We don't have anyone lined up for this next month. I guess it's because of my pride. I have to appologize for my pride. This has really been a humbling experience. I just hope I've learned what I need to so that we can move on and we can start having more success. 
Last Tuesday our district class consisted of Little Ceasars and a trip to the doctor.
Out of our 3 companionships that we have in our district, 1 of them didn't show up because they were in Veracruz. So our DL decided to go get some pizza. Well, as we are walking back from the pizza, on of the Elders tripped and fell and cut his hand. When he had fallen he landed in a nice Dog crap pile and a broken glass bottle. So to be sure that his hand wouldn't get infected, we took him to the doctor to get him all fixed up.
Wednesday and Thursday weren't very exciting, but Friday we went to another city that is about an hour from Cordoba. It is part of our area. Well on the bus ride there, we sat down and I noticed a lady staring at my name badge. I got the impression to talk to her but the truth is, is that I just wanted to sleep so I shrugged it off. Well about 30 seconds later, She starts talking to one of the members that we brought with us that day. Turns out she had met and talked with the missionaries before but had lost contact because she moved. I started talking with her and gave her a Book of Mormon to read. She told she would read it and we set up another appointment for the next week. Just goes to show that you should ALWAYS follow the promptings of the Spirit. 
On Saturday we were contacting and we knock on this one door and this lady comes out and sees our name badge and demands what we are doing. We tell her that we are missionaries and then she interrupts me and tells us in a very rude way that she was also a missionary  and a member of her churches choir. She then points to the statue of the Virgin Mary and declares that she is catholic and the she didn't want anything to do with us and then rudely went back inside.  It is pretty amazing how rude some people can be.
So today we went to paint a house of a member and then we left to see a waterfall.



It was pretty cool. There were some train tunnels that were right next to it so we played around on those for a bit and took some pictures. Anyways, Love you all and hope you have a great week!! Always in my prayers!!!


Elder Dial

HUMP DAY

Yes Thursday was my  official "Hump Day"  and we went to Veracruz to the 
"Good-Bye conference" of President Treviño. Our new Mission President will be 
here Saturday. So we spent all day in Veracruz and got back to Cordoba around 6 PM. We 
then went to work for a little bit and came home and then proceeded with the traditional 
burning of the shirt. Wasn't as exciting as I thought but anything with fire is still 
pretty fun.


Saturday we baptized a woman named E. And boy did that come with a lot of stress. But the stress came AFTER!!! So back story; Before we baptized her, we knew she lived out of our area. We did everything we could do to tell her she needed to attend her own Ward but she didn't want to. In our Ward she has a great friend that supports her. So we called President Treviño and he told us we could baptize her in our Ward but she needed to be confirmed a member in the Ward where she lives. So that is what we did and all in all, a daughter of God has come into the fold.


 











 So as i said, I have surpassed my "hump day". I would like to thank 
everyone for all your prayers and support over this past year. As I've reflected on this 
past year I've learned a lot. and I would like to share a few of the things I've learned.
    I've learned about the love God has for ALL his children. I learned how to rely more 
on the spirit and to recognize the promptings of the Spirit. I've learned how to listen. 
My testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown. I've learned to love and some times just 
tolerate and have patience for someone for 3-4.5 months. I've learned how to pray. I've 
learned that I can't do everything and to rely on the Lord. I've learned to be patient 
and to work through the hardest moments of my life, knowing the Lord will bless me. I've 
learned how to love and see people how they really are; as true sons and daughters of our 
Heavenly Father. As I look back on the past year, I'm excited to grow even more in this 
coming year. A quote from President Monson comes to mind. He says, "Learn from the 
past, prepare for the future, and live in the present." As I reflect on the lessons 
I've learned I will be better prepared for my future. And if i live in the present and 
work hard , my future will be even brighter. Again thank you all for your support. Love 
each and every one of you!!! Have a great week.
Elder Parker Dial

Can you find me?

Fotografías de La Conferencia


Birthday's and Boxers

 Happy birthday to Terri Freeman, Jim Lothspeich, mom, Jeff, Jay Dial, Sydney Chapman, Sofia Broadbent, and Corbyn Coltrin. You all have been a huge influence in my life. Thank you!
Ok, well this past week was pretty good. But we continue to find new people to teach and we found a couple of "Chosen" investigators. They're "chosen" because they are completing all of their commitments. They started reading the Book of Mormon and are sharing verses from the Book of Mormon over Facebook and also Mormon Messages. They are awesome and I'm excited to see their progress. 
So the picture is of me and my new "sombrero".





I had to get in the Trek Mood. I will never forget the trek I went on! I will always remember that we can do hard things!! and it is "just another mile or so". 














I also found a Boxer and his name is Dukie. He is scared of almost everything! We took the camera out and he started backing away. It took a little bit to convince him that the camera wasn't going to do anything to him.
Oh, we also filled a baptismal font by bucket. The other Elders in our ward had a baptism but they hadn't filled the font  and so we formed a "bucket brigade" and we got it filled in about 40 minutes. It reminded me of what people did before they had a fire department. 
And the World Cup continues. In the middle of their town square they have a big screen set up to watch Mexico play. Well every time Mexico is close to score we can hear the shouts and gasps when they do or do not score. It's pretty funny how involved they are in soccer.
Anyways, have a great week!! Love you all. 


Elder Dial

Happy Father's Day


Happy Father's Day!! And yes dad, we did baptize! (See pictures). Anyways, Have a very Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Hope you enjoyed your one day of the year because that's all the world is willing to give you... the other 364 days of the year are dedicated to work and family.

This past week was pretty good. The best part being the baptism we had. The worst part, he was the only one of our investigators that actually showed up at church. It's a little frustrating. They accept the invitation to be baptized and then they won't go to church. They always use the excuses, "I went out with my family" or "I was working"  or "I was sleeping". But I am afraid that all this falls on the heads of the teachers. I guess we didn't teach them well enough for them to understand that they need to attend their meetings and we are trying to help them. Luckily our investigators who didn't show up, we wont have to change their baptismal dates.
So our new president will probably get here at the beginning of July. That's when President Treviño starts his new calling as an area 70. Well he technically already has started his new calling but that's when he will get into the full swing of things.
So this past week nothing too exciting happened.  President Treviño is cleaning the mission and has placed a new rule which states that if we are not in the house by 9PM we lose the privilege to write home on Monday. So we have been getting to our house in between 8:30-8:45 every night which was the mission rule anyway.
Oh, so the big news for this week is that everybody is watching the World Cup. That means very few people are letting us in to teach. It amazes me at how much people here love soccer. I will say I don't hate the sport, But i still don't like it. But it is starting to grow on me. I still wont let my kids play it. Anyways, that's about it for this week. Hope all is well and know your in my prayers. Love you.
 
Elder Dial
 

PS. The other picture is of our fan. If you look closely, you can see that we had to use packaging tape to fix it. I'm pretty sure it would qualify for "the Red and Green show."

Broken shoes and kind gestures

Well, I haven't completed a year on my mission but I have less than a year left. Try and figure that one out ;)
Anyways this past week has been pretty up and down. It started out when we went to a Little town outside of Cordoba but still in our area. We walked around that town looking for new people to teach . Well we found some new people and then we went back Saturday but NOBODY WAS HOME!!! So again we walked around the city looking for more new investigators. Then Sunday my shoes completely broke and I don't have another pair so I put on my Tennis and went to work. But today I did buy some new boots for the rain because it has rained 5 out of 7 days this past week.
Also we received the conference Liahona! AH!!! I LOVE CONFERENCE! I can't wait for the next session. I just wanted to remind all of you of a talk by Elder M Russell Ballard. In this talk he encourages everyone to buy and study Preach MY Gospel. I hope you all have a copy and I would love to hear what you are studying. I am currently studying Chapter 10. It's really good. It talks about how we should listen because most people are like Icebergs. You can only see whats on top but by listening you can see the entire Iceberg. Anyways, I thought that was interesting. Also he stated that he wants every member to invite someone to listen to the missionaries quarterly! At this point I want to "Follow up", another principle he talked about, and see how all of you are doing on your commitments. Especially the "Bring one soul unto Christ"   Anyways, just wanted to check on that.
So a quick short cool story. This week we took a taxi to visit an investigator and the taxis driver didn't have change for a 50! How, I do not know because it only cost us 20. Anyways we were looking for some one to change our bill and a random lady who paid for our Taxi! What a kind gesture!!! There are still nice people in the world!!!!
So nothing much else has happened this week. Just my shoes broke and a lot of walking. Hope all is well! Love you and have a great week!!!!
 
Elder Dial
Out with the old and in with the new! Let's get to work!!!