Another Month In The Books! Feb. 2nd 2015

 This week has been another eventful week! I know why I had "special transfers." Well, this week marks the start of a new transfer and I had to arrive to my area early so I could learn the area and the responsibilities before my companion left. Elder R has been replaced by Elder I.

He's pretty cool. Speaks English very well and has a little less time than I do on the mission. I'm excited for this new transfer and the responsibilities of being a Zone Leader! I have to train Elder I how to be a zone leader with only two weeks experience. It should be fun! 

Anyways, we baptized the daughter of Sister N who we baptized last week. That in itself was a miracle! She did not want to get baptized. Well she did but then her boyfriend told her that  they were going to go rent an apartment and live together.  She was pretty set on not being baptized. We talked with her everyday this week about her decision. We talked about the consequences both spiritual and temporal! Her boyfriend doesn't have a high school diploma and so it would be nearly impossible for him to find a good enough job to pay the rent, the electricity, gas, water, AND pay for the baby AND his schooling! But she was set on living with him. Well, after a week of talking with her and praying  with her about the subject, we were about to give up. It was Saturday evening. About 6 to be exact, and in walks the boyfriend! My companion and I jump on the opportunity to talk to him about the decision and the spirit was so strong that he knew the truth of what we were saying and he agreed to let his girlfriend get baptized! In that moment my testimony grew stronger! I gained a testimony of prayer, fasting, patience, and in God's love for ALL his children! God will bless us only AFTER we have done everything in our power. "Ye receive no witness until AFTER the trial of your faith" (Ether 12:6) Now we only need a miracle for her brother E.

 For two weeks we've tried to baptize him and he's always SUPER excited....until he enters the water.  As soon as he enters the water, he gets struck by fear. He grabs onto the bars in the faunt and does not let go! His fear gives him super strength! My companion tried yanking him from the bars and he wouldn't let go. We've given him a blessing, We've talked to him, we've done everything in our power but no results. The only thing we can do now is wait and pray. We'll give him a few weeks to see how he feels.

Other than that, we have a few baptisms set up for this week. I'm excited to hear from Elder De Hoyos, Mexican Area President. We will talk to him as a mission Friday and then us Zone Leaders have a special conference/meeting with him Saturday. Hope you all have a great week. Love you all!

Elder Dial 

Right Back Where I Started From! Jan. 26th 2015

First week as a Zone Leader and boy do I have a lot to tell you! I hope I have enough time to write it all. Tuesday morning I left Veracruz and headed to Tierra Blanca. We got here about 1 PM and then went straight to the district classes so I could get to know the Elders. There are 8 companionship's in the zone and they are all Elders. No sister missionaries here. After the district classes, we headed to the house to drop off my things and then we went to work.

Wednesday was half work day. Wednesday we left at about 6 from Tierra Blanca and headed to Tres Valles to do a few baptismal interviews. Well, there were 5 of them so my companion and I split them up. I did 3 and he did 2. But we didn't get them all done so we ended up staying the night in Tres Valles. 

Thursday, after our weekly planning, we went on splits. In Tres Valles there are two wards. Well a ward and a branch. I went with the Elders from Tres Valles or in other words, my very first area! It was great because I got to go and see some of my converts and a few members too. Then at 5 we returned to finish the Baptismal interviews. We thought we could finish in time but one interview I had took a lot longer than I expected. We finally leave Tres Valles at 7:30 and get back to Tierra Blanca at 8:30. We still have more interviews to do so my companion and I call our District Leader to come and do some other interviews. By the time we got home it was about 10 PM. We ourselves had 3 people that were going to get baptized but we only could baptize one. 

Friday was a normal work day but Saturday was a very eventful day!! It all started when we were walking and my companion tripped while carrying a box and luckily the box broke his fall. It was a sight to see. He also ripped his pants at the seem. An easy fix and an even easier laugh! Hahaha After he had fixed his pants we go and get to work. We get to a house and while we are teaching, I realize that one of my boots broke! Luckily it doesn't rain here so I should be fine until I return home in 4 months. That's not the worse part of our day. At about 3 we get a call from one of our investigators asking if we could come by and see them. She sounded scared so my companion and I grabbed a taxi and headed straight over there. Turns out her boyfriend took her to see a doctor because she is pregnant. But he told her it was a surprise so she willingly went. Well her boyfriend takes her to a Witch. Yes that's right, I said Witch. Here in Mexico there are a lot of people who practice Witchery. Well this Witch does something to the baby and the mother (our investigator) feels the baby jump and it really scared her so she called us to come and see what was going on. Well, I'm no doctor but I do know a little bit about the priesthood and its powers, so we gave her a blessing and so far everything is just fine.

After that we headed to our stake conference. We had a very special guest attend. Elder Via Lobos of the area seventy came and talked to the stake. It was great! So we ended the day well and then Sunday was the last of our conference and we had a few baptisms after. 

We were suppose to baptize 2 but one was a 10 year old boy who is terrified of water! My companion tried to baptize him but he wouldn't go under. We tried talking to him but he was convinced that he wasn't going to do it. We are going to try again when his sister gets baptized in these up coming weeks. 

I want to end with a few things I learned from Elder Via Lobos. He taught that there are no such things as half blessings and that there are some things that we should NEVER do. The old saying "don't play with fire unless you want to get burned" comes to mind. Well, I don't have a lot more time to write but I will say this, Obedience is the first law of Heaven and there are no partial blessings! Obey and receive all the blessings the Lord has for you. Disobey or partially obey and you have no promise

Elder Dial

PS. All the baptisms from the Zone. we were able to baptize 9!!