Monday, September 29, 2014

Hamburger Challenge! Sept. 29th, 2014


Hamburger Challenge!! Eat 5!!! Epic Fail!!! Stopped at 4 :(
Well, with this week just starting, this transfer is ending. Yes, that's right, transfers!! My dear companion Elder M. is being transferred to Veracruz and I will be training again!!!! Yep, my second son!!!! Oh and news about my first son, Elder G., He is now a district leader!! Like father, like son!! Hahaha I'm very excited to train again! It was a blast last time and I love teaching the Greenies how to become an instrument in the hands of the Lord.
Speaking of instruments in the hands of the Lord, is anyone else as excited as I am about General Conference?!?! I LOVE conference!!!! I love getting to hear the words of the Lord through his servants! The opportunity to receive personal revelation is something no one should EVER miss!!!!!! 
This week we had a few powerful lessons. Especially towards the end of the week when Elder M. was saying good-bye to everyone. One lesson that stood out to me was the Plan of Salvation. I love the Plan of Salvation. Because it gives me something to hope for. It comforts me to know that I can be with my family FOREVER!!!! As we were teaching this lesson, I thought of all my friends and family. Mom, you asked if my friends still write me. Well, not a lot but I really don't mind because I know they are all busy with everything else. But while thinking about that it made me reflect, what am I doing to make sure I will enter in God's Kingdom? I have to trust in my friends and family that they are doing all they can to make it there and if I want to be with them forever, I need to do my part. I hope and pray that all of you are doing what you need to do to enter into God's Kingdom, because I'm going to do everything in my power to get there and I wouldn't be happy if my friends or family weren't there. I would rather live in the Telestial Kingdom than to have one of my friends or family members not make it to the Celestial Kingdom. I told Elder M. this because I only have about 8 months left so my chances of seeing him are very slim to none but I know I will see him again! If not in this life, in the life to come! That's the beauty of the Plan of Salvation!!!
Anyways, my district is going great! We are starting to turn things around! Its taken long enough but we are starting to have success! We have a lot of baptismal dates that are so close to being baptized! They just need to come to church and have their baptismal interview with me and they will be in the water! Our goal for the month of October is 17. I know we can do it!! Anyways, thanks for all your support and love! Love you all!!!

Elder Dial

Monday, September 22, 2014

First Hot Showers In Over A Year! Sept. 22, 2014


Well, this past week was a lot of fun. I haven't had to give a district class in 2 weeks because of Zone classes and Zone conference. It was a great conference!!!
I don't remember if I told you or not but just in case i didn't I'll tell you, and if I did tell you, well....you'll hear it again! This is the first house I've had in 16 months with running hot water!!!! Oh it is just such a joy to shower with hot water!! 
This week we had a couple of great lessons and we found a few new people to teach. It's a family and so I'm super excited to teach them. Their names are F and A L. They are a young couple and have a 4 year old son. It was a funny story how we found them. Actually, he found me. We were in a gas station making a quick stop and he walks in and sees me and waves. I wave back and continue waiting for my companion. He then walks over to me and starts talking to me. He finally realizes that I don't know him but he swears to have seen me from somewhere. So I seized upon the opportunity to write down his address. We went to his house last Saturday but he wasn't there so we passed by again on Saturday and we found him and his wife. They have a lot of doubts but they accepted a baptismal date for the 26th of October. We also have another family of 4 with a baptismal date for the 26th also. I'm excited but if we are hoping to baptize 6 on the 26th!  We need a lot of prayer, fasting, and hard work. We also have a few other baptisms for this upcoming week and a few more at the beginning of October. The work here is great! Loving every minute of it!! Hope all is well and I want to give a quick happy birthday shout out to Carly and Ethan whose birthdays were last week. No i didn't forget, Actually, I have a card I just need to send it. Hahaha :) Love you all.

Elder Dial

PS. We ate at a Brazilian restaurant today. It was exactly like Tucanos!!!! The only difference was the name. The food and everything was the same!! It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!!!

And some pictures from out mountain trip a few weeks ago. You can see there was a lot of mud. 

Friday, September 19, 2014

Independence Day, Baptism's and Spiders! Sept. 15th, 2014



HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes today is el Día de Independencia here in Mexico!!! 
Short story, I saw a guy wearing a BSU sweatshirt today!!!! I asked if i could take a picture with him but he said no and ran away :( But yes there are BSU fans here in Mexico that aren't Americans!!!
So this past week has been well.....it was very difficult for a few reasons. One in particular but it turned out to be a fantastic week. It was difficult because we had two sisters who were all prepared for baptism. We visited them Tuesday. They are underage (15 and 17) and so we had to have one of their parents sign the "baptismal consent form." To be honest I have no clue what its called in English. But their dad wouldn't give us permission. We ended up fasting a praying a ton so that these girls could be baptized on the 14th. We passed by Wednesday, nothing. Thursday, nothing. Friday, Success!!!!!! We were able to talk with their mom and their mom gave them permission. But we have another speed bump in the way. One of them, was having second thoughts.  We program their baptismal interviews none-the-less hoping that our Zone Leaders could help her. Well, they both passed their interviews. But still, N, was uncertain. We told her to pray about it and we would call her in the evening to see what she wanted to do. Well, she accepted and we were able to baptize them both. The Lord really does answer the prayers of the faithful. 
We also found a few really good investigators. Its a family. The mom, and two sons. A. is 17 years old and A. is 15. They are a really great family. They invited us to eat with them today! They haven't even attended church and A. told us that he wants to serve a mission like us. They couldn't attend church because they went to play soccer. But they told us that they are going to change teams and leagues to a league that plays Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so they can have Sunday free to attend church. I was stunned and am very excited for them. Like I said, they haven't even attend a church service and they are already talking about how great it would be to serve a mission. A told us he went to play soccer at the church last Tuesday. Side note: Every Tuesday the Elders quorum  and whoever else goes and plays soccer at the church. And so A. told us that when he entered he just felt calm and at peace. Even his Mom, told us today that she always feels different when we come and teach and visit. She feels at peace also. What she and A. really feel, is the Holy Ghost!!!!!! The cool thing is, that we as members of the True Church, have the Gift of the Holy Ghost. That means, where ever we go, we have the privilege of his presence. What's even cooler, those not of our faith can feel the difference. When we enter a house, and when we leave. They feel the Holy Ghost but they just don't recognize it. That's where we come in and explain that what they were feeling was the Holy Ghost testifying of the truthfulness of the Gospel. 
Anyways, that about sums up my week. The sister missionaries are progressing and it's actually pretty fun to be able to see and be a part of their progress as missionaries and members. Thanks for all your prayers in my behalf! I love every single one of you! Have a great week and Go BSU!!!!!!!

Elder Dial


P.S. The pictures are pictures of the baptism, and of the giant spiders here. The black dots in the sky are spiders. They are huge and they live as a family so you literally walk by or under anywhere from 50-100 or more!

Rainey Days and Mondays Sept. 8th 2014



This week has been an up and down week. It´s starting to rain everyday now so that doesn't help much because nobody is out on the streets for us to contact and no body wants to let us "Mormons" into their house. But I'm always trying to think on the positive. That's something that has been hard for me but I'm getting better at it. It's a lot easier with my companion because he has a little temper so he gets frustrated and angry when people don't let us in. I just have to keep reminding him to smile because the Gospel is true. If we are doing our part, we will be blessed. 
Tuesday was pretty good. I taught about the Spirit in my district class. It went pretty well. The good thing about only have one other set of Elders in my district is that I don't have to go on splits very often. Once or twice every transfer. I don't really like splits very much. We end up doing them on Tuesdays after our district class and end up wasting half the day. But then again it´s good because I learn a lot from the other Elders. 
We have a few great ideas for some missionary activities. One is to start a Book of Mormon class. Very similar to the class that Brother Sanford Gives and that dad loves. The purpose of this class is to get people to read the Book of Mormon. Elder Johnson, the area president, told us that 95-99% of the members in Mexico are not reading the Book of Mormon. WHAT?!?!?!?! How? Why? I love the Book of Mormon!!! I'm actually reading in 3rd Nephi right now when Christ visits the Americas. I love the part that says that his hands are always extended to those who repent. I think it's in chapter 9 of 3rd Nephi, the last few verses. Dad, I'm also trying to read the old Testament....I just started Deuteronomy. But it's a challenge for me.
Thursday we had a training day for the ward missionaries. Well, it wasn't a day...more like 2 hours. We talked about some of the families that we would like them to visit and about their responsibilities. It reminded me a lot of the responsibilities of members. Like President Monson said, the Gospel is based on love. If we do not love our fellow man then we are not living the Gospel. So we told our ward missionaries to go and actually be their friends. That doesn't mean visit them once or twice a month. It means that you are inviting them to every activity/event and are visiting them regularly. Help them feel loved.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, it rained pretty hard. We found a family that's on the verge of separating so my companion and I were like marriage counselors for about an hour. Not something I like to do but they needed to understand how the Gospel can help save their family. As it says in Preach My Gospel, The Gospel of Christ is the only thing that can save this world from its own auto-destruction. Anyways, the church is true and that's why I am out here. Love you all and hope you have a great week! Go BSU!!!

Picture Overload! Sept. 1, 2014

Well, This week was pretty great. My first District class was a little awkward just because they didn't know me but this weeks should go much better. Tuesday after my class, I had splits with the Zone leaders. They are pretty cool and one is going to finish his mission at the end of this transfer. He taught me more about my responsibilities as a district leader. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were all normal days. We started working and found some new people to teach. Saturday we were contacting and we knocked on a door and a man answered. His name is A. He told us that he had assisted before but for one reason or another he had stopped going. I'm still not sure if he's a less active member or not a member at all but the cool thing is is that we talked to him Saturday but he wouldn't let us enter his house because he was busy, but the next day (Sunday), He came to church. It was a pretty cool sight to see. So this week we will work hard with him. 
Also today, we went and climbed another mountain. Three times the size of the other one we climbed. It wasn't as bad because we started earlier so it wasn't nearly as hot. We woke-up at 5 to start climbing by 6. We got to the top around 10-10:30. WITHOUT A GUIDE!!!!!!! I was frustrated because our Zone Leader is from Utah and is a mountain biking/hiking freak so he thought he knew everything about the mountains. I'm a kid from Idaho and I'm pretty sure I know more about mountains than he does but that's another story. So what happened is that there were a ton of trails to take. A member told him what way to go and we took that route. But we are about an hour from the top and the trail stops and basically we start climbing the face of the mountain. I wanted to go back because I didn't want to get lost. Well, we didn't and we kept hiking. After we got to the top we started heading back down. Did I mention that this trail was all CLAY and ROCKS!!!!! It was nearly impossible to climb up and to hike down was even worse. I got dirtier going down than I did going up. There were times where it was so slick we had to slide down on our butts to make it safely. But that's not all, this "know it all mountaineer" takes off ahead to scout out which path to take but he doesn't come back to tell us, he just waits until we follow him. I didn't say it but I was thinking, "Do you know the definition of a scout" It means that one goes and comes back to inform the group, well he didn't.  Then as we are descending, we get lost and wind up taking up a different trail than the one we started. His words were these "All the Trails connect so it doesn't matter what trail we take." uh....I'm not a big mountaineer but even I know that not all trails reconnect. The good news is, is that after 3 hours we finally made it down safely and covered in mud. 
Anyways, on a more spiritual note, I'm starting to get the hang of this District Leader thing. The sisters are more responsive and have more confidence in me. This week we should have a lot of success. Thanks for everything and have a great week. Love you all.

Elder Dial

PS There is a sister from Alabama in my district and shes a big Auburn fan. At least there's some one else in my district that likes college football.











Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Adjusting! Aug.25th 2014

Well this past week has been a whole new world for me. Not really, just a lot of new things I have to do as a leader that I didn't have to do before. But it comes with the Responsibilities. Like they always say, "with greater power, comes greater responsibility." 
I would also like to send a shout out to my cousin Savanna whose birthday was last week. Happy Birthday Savanna!!!! And also to my Niece Reagan. 
So this past week like I said, has been a little...not frustrating or nervous, just.....I really don't know how to explain it. It feels a little out of the ordinary but then again no. I guess it's a little weird because I have 2 companionship's of sister missionaries in my district and then there's me and my companion and the Zone Leaders in my district too. I right now have to figure out how I'm going to deal with the sisters without offending them and without me going easy on them. I sometimes don't have a clue of what I'm going to do with the sister missionaries. I want them to have success but I also don't want them to think that all I do is chew them out for what they did wrong. I guess I'll have to study more about Christ and how he lead. After all, he is our perfect example.
This week was really a week of getting into the groove of things so not much exciting things happened. WE found a few new people to teach but there are a lot of things we have to do with them to be able to baptize them. One thing I struggle with in Mexico is that EVERYONE LIVES IN A FREAKING UNION LIBRE!!!! That is to say they don't get married, they just hook up and live together. We have about 5 couples that we are teaching and 4 of them have to go through the divorce process with their other spouse and then they have to get married with their current partner.
Today I realized just how fat I've gotten!!! We went a climbed a mountain. It wasn't a very big one but it kicked my butt!!!! I thought I was still in pretty good shape but boy was I wrong!! So dad, if you wouldn't mind sending me plyometrics from P90X, I would love that!! My new zone leader is from Provo and his dad is a Provo City Firefighter. I'm trying to convince him to get me a Provo Fire shirt so in my next package it might be good to include a Boise fire shirt size large. Anyways, tomorrow I give my first District class. Wish me luck! Love you all!! Oh and congrats Aubry and Jeff on the quick and clean arrival!!!

Elder Dial

New Responsibilities Aug.18th 2014

                                                                 
Well, a lot of emotions this week. Basically all of them!!! Excitement, nervous, happy, sad, thrilled, stressed, you name it. But all in all it was a very good week. A lot of cool experiences. 
One experience I had this week was again with the law of the fast. If you remember, 2 weeks ago I mentioned that we fasted for our investigators, that they could attend church. Well, that week we had 8 show up. The following week, we got a little prideful and decided not to fast. Well last week we only had 3 show up. So this week we decided to try fasting again, and once again, the Lord blessed us. We had 8 investigators attend church yesterday (Sunday). Just reminds me to beware of pride!
Another cool experience happened Wednesday. Wednesday, a sister took us to KFC to eat!!! It was very good!! But that's only part of the coolness of this experience. While we were there we ran into a Mom and daughter who had just moved back to Mexico from Washington. They spoke to me in English and I would try to respond to them in English. I say try because its very difficult for me to speak English. It's not that I'm forgetting, although that has a little to do with it, it's more that it isn't natural. I've been speaking pure Spanish for over a year and when I hear English I can understand it but it's more natural to speak in Spanish. Hahaha only on a mission in Mexico would that be considered a cool experience. I have no clue what I'm going to do to communicate when I get home!
Then on Saturday, my companion and I were walking and we run into an American guy. He's on the other side of the street and he shouts out "Dude, are you Mormon?" I said yes and then he  asked "Have you begun to doubt your faith yet?" I was shocked at the question but quickly, with out missing a beat, I replied, "No, and I never will!" He was shocked and then said I should join the CIA for my commitment. We had a little conversation with him but it wasn't going anywhere so we left and my companion and I had a good laugh about it afterwards.
Well, to wrap up the week, my companion and I received an interesting phone call from President Cordova. I should mention that this week we have transfers. Basically the phone call was to inform us of our new callings. Hence the feelings of being nervous and excited at the same time. Well, have been called to serve as District Leader and my companion is going to train a new greenie! Yes, I'm a grandfather!!! HAhahaha But the cool thing is, is that I stay in the same Zone. I just switch wards. My new ward is the Ojo de Agua ward. Translation: Eye of water or if you want it to actually make sense it would be the Water eye ward. So I'll still be enjoying the nice cool climate of Cordoba for at least 4.5 more months. Oh and my companion is Elder M. He is from Argentina!!!! He is fairly new. From the same generation as Elder G. so it will be a little challenging but the Lord qualifies whom he calls.
And to top off the week, we had a baptism!!!!!! This week was a great week and I've loved my time here but am ready for a new adventure. Love you all and have a great week!!!

Elder Dial