Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Listen to the Coach! Feb. 9th 2015

This past week has been another eventful week. We hardly worked in our area this week. We had District class Tuesday, double divisions Wednesday, weekly planning Thursday, zone conference Friday and leadership training Saturday. It was a busy week and we still managed to baptize 2 this week. Like I said, as a Zone Leader I have seen many miracles, In my own area and in the zone. 
It was really cool Wednesday because I could kill two birds with one stone! I was able to go on divisions with my son in my first area, Tres Valles. It was great and we had a lot of fun. 
The Zone conference was something special because The area president came. Elder De Hoyos came and talked to us for a bit. It was really good. He didn't teach us any new doctrine but he taught us the same doctrine in a different way. A way that we could understand and apply it. It was super good and I'm hoping that we can find a lot of new people to teach. 
So as I have said we were able to baptize two this week. One was a 10 year old boy whose mother was inactive for a long time and we are activating her. Its very interesting actually. The area plan for Mexico is to help the members and everyone pay and honest tithing. I remember hearing an apostle talk about this and he said that someone who pays an honest tithe will never go inactive. I love what the Lord says about this commandment. He says, "Try me and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out blessings that there shall not be room enough to receive them." "Try me." That´s a dare! The lord is saying I dare you to pay your tithing! Test me. Do it and see what happens. I love those words. If you need a blessing and you need it "now," Pay your tithing and you shall receive so many blessings that you wont be able to contain them all. Anyways, we were teaching her about Tithing and she told us she had been waiting to pay her tithing and that every time she received her pay check, she took out 10% and set it aside. Then she came Sunday and payed ALL her tithing that she had kept and saved for a few months, maybe years, not exactly sure but she did pay it all!
Our other Baptism is a very cool and interesting story. When I was in Ojo de Agua (Eye of water for those of you who don't speak Spanish....Carson) and when I was with Elder M, we were teaching a teenager named N. He was so close to being baptized but it was very hard for him to keep a few commandments. Well, after I left the area, he moved to Fortin. While in Fortin, he met my current companion, Elder I. Then N moved into our current area in Tierra Blanca. Well we found him through the members. He actually was a referral from the members. When we saw him it was a very awesome moment. To see the hands of the Lord working in the life of this young man. Well he had repented of his sins and had started to obey the commandments and on Sunday I had the privilege of baptizing him. It was a very special moment because I could see how he had grown in just a few short months. He has already read and finished the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants.
 
Bueno, my new companion is Elder I. He was born in LA but raised in Mexico. He speaks very good English and is a really good guy. Today we were talking about some of the restaurants in the USA and we both agreed that Texas Road House and IHOP  hold the 1 and 2 position in our polls. He and I actually arrived in the mission field on the same day. The only difference is that I have one transfer more than he does because I was in the MTC for a transfer. So I come home In June and he goes home in July. 
We are having a few struggles in the Zone right now but I know the Lord will bless us if we continue to obey. Something I learned is that to get different results, we have to do different things. We can't do the same thing and expect different results. The Lord has been blessing us but in order to receive more blessings we must be the ones to change the game. We determine the outcome. The Lord will always bless us, but in order to receive "all that he has" we must change our game plan. God has a game plan, it's called The Plan of Salvation, but he has given us the liberty to "create" so-to-speak our own game plan. If we want a happy joyful life, our game plan will be the coaches game plan. Its very simple if we really think about it. A no brainer. In order to receive eternal happiness, we MUST follow the coaches game plan. I'm always reminded of Basketball. Coach Cada gave us a game plan. we could either follow through with his plan or make our own. In order to win state, we HAD to follow Coach Cada's game plan. It's the same with God and his plan. He has set rules and given us guides to help us along the way. He has commanded us that we must follow his son Jesus Christ and be baptized by one holding the authority of God, Receive the gift of the Holy Ghost by that same power and authority. But that's not all. He has commanded us to build temples to not only do the work for the dead but also so that we can continue to make and keep sacred covenants. He has given us the opportunity to repent of our sins EVERY Sunday by partaking the sacrament. Its a very simple plan that will lead us to eternal happiness. Any other plan will only lead us down to a "Gulf of misery and endless woe." This is my testimony. That Christ lives. That God, our Eternal Father has given us everything we need to win the Championship. It's funny because we know who wins, the only thing we have to do is decide which team we want to be on. This I know to be true.  

Elder Dial