Obedience is key!

February 27, 2012

Hello Everyone,

This week has been pretty dang productive. Not necessarily with the number of lessons we taught but with the number of new investigators we found. We found 7 new people to teach this week. I don't know about y’all in Mexico but 7 is a good number here in the smoggy city of Riverside. It is amazing how the Lord blesses those who are obedient. Blessings truly come when we are obedient, One of my favorites, "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated".

One of the methods Elder McGill and I have found is very effective to bringing in the spirit is we ask if we can simply sing a hymn from my mini hymnbook before we begin. Dang it brings the Spirit in like a brick wall. We made about 12 (new key indicator) people cry this week because we do a mean "Senor te Necesito". Elder McGill has perfect pitch along with a beautiful voice so it works out. I usually sing alto or tenor and McGill does the melody. Unfortunately NONE of the people we sang for showed up to Sacrament meeting. Frustrations rose as Sacrament meeting started and they didn’t’ show up, but as soon as I took the sacrament I was good.

Hyrum Dominguez from the ward is leaving on his mission to Dallas Texas soon. He'll do really well. He gave an awesome farewell talk. I've picked up another free guitar from a member and play a little bit with the little amount of time we have after planning before we go to bed.

It's nice to FINALLY see some progress come out of working and being disgustingly obedient. That's all this week! Love ya!

-Elder Dial

Lunch with Holli! (and the boys...Ryan, Rocco and Jax!)

February 21, 2012

Hello Everyone,

It feels good to have my occupation. My job is to make other people happy, to bring them the gospel and enrich their lives as the Lord see fits. I have the opportunity to experience diverse culture, and get to know others on a deep spiritual level. I'm a predictably dressed minister, therapist, and philosopher in a most unpredictable world. My idea of a good time is pitting my scripture mastery skills against my friends, seeing how many pass along cards we can get to stick in the ceiling, and eating ridiculous quantities of unhealthy tacos. I work long hours, receive terrible pay, my living conditions could be viewed as abominable to some, and I'm forced to live with a companion of opposite personality as I. Some people despise my purpose and message, while others view it as their salvation. I'm in a white shirt and tie sweating in the sun. I'm a charming smile and, “when can we come back”? I'm a seller of divine goods that have no expiration date. I'm a missionary, and I'm proud of it.

This week has been fairly uneventful. We picked up three new investigators (some kind of flaky) and I've started to see the area grow more and more. I would have to say being able to see Holli and Ryan at Yardhouse was the highlight of the week. It was awesome to see her, Ryan and the boys. For those who are receiving this email who don't know Ryan and Holli they are my cousins who live about 40 mins away from me. We had an awesome lunch and talked for about 2 hours there, on P-day mind you, so it wasn't a waste of time. I didn't really have a chance to share a testimony with her there because the environment wasn't really right. I just sent her this:

Holli! I completely forgot to say thank you. The lunch was awesome and I loved being able to see you and your boys (all three). Feel free to send me an email about your thoughts on the website. I email once a week on Mondays and can email all family. Holli, this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it all sounds redundant to you, and people have told you and your husband this time and time again, but this is the way to true happiness. I have met hundreds of people here in Riverside, and I can see the difference of people who live the Gospel of Jesus Christ and those who don't. They receive blessings beyond anything they can imagine. Please take 10 minutes sometime today (this is going to be a little weird) find a quiet place and kneel down, and open up your heart to God. He is waiting to hear from you and Ryan. If you can't think of anything to say just sit there in silence and think. I can promise you as a representative of Jesus Christ that you will receive an answer from your Father in Heaven. I didn't really have a chance to say this yesterday because the environment wasn't really right. I love you Holli.

-Matt

This truly is the work of the Lord and I'm so blessed to be a part of it. I love you and challenge you to do the same as I challenged Holli. Love you all!

-Elder Dial

NEW ADDRESS...

Elder Matt was transferred on Monday...here's his new mailing address...

Elder Matt Dial
8230 Magnolia Ave. Apt #305
Riverside, CA 92504

The mission home is always an option and will eventually get to him...

Mission Home
5900 Grand Avenue
Riverside, CA 92504

Transferred to Jurupa!

January 7, 2012

Hello everyone,

So I have been moved out of Riverside after an awesome 6 months. This transfer I will be going to the Jurupa Zone (which is the zone next door) with Elder McGill. Elder McGill is from Texas but from Puerto Rico originally. He has been out for 21 months. Unfortunately, he got transferred in this transfer too.....therefore this will be the SECOND time being doubled-in (whitewash, every mission has a different term for it) to an area.

There hasn't been any work in this area for a LONG time and I'm excited to get it going. We have I think 2 investigators, they aren't progressing, and we still have to figure out the boundaries of our area. It's going to be fun to start anew and get something going. Also my Spanish is going to improve a lot because Elder McGill is a native.

. I kinda wish I would have been able to stay another transfer because we were just starting to see some success out of our finding. We found 9 new investigators last week and 21 more potentials, 6 of which are or have read the Book of Mormon. Hopefully I'll return for some baptisms in that area.

Nothing really extraordinary has happened this week other than getting transferred. I moved into the nicest apartments in the mission....that was nice. Sorry Mexico. (Matt sends these also to some of his MTC district…who are serving in Mexico…) We've got stainless steel appliances, crown molding, hardwood floors...it's pretty sweet. But, I don't have much more time because we have to go out and get to work. Love you all so much and I miss and pray for ya'll daily!

-Elder Dial

Just another day knockin' :)

January 30, 2012
Hello everyone,
Last week was kind of rough and slow because the other spanish elders moved appartmentsand we were busy taking random loads to the dump and to the new appartment. So we didn't have as many lessons as I would've liked but I'm pleased with the outcome of our week in the end.
On Wednesday we did the activity for the youth. We talked all about misisonary work and we showed the District 2 to all the youth. All four of us missionaries bore our testimonies after and it was super good. That Saturday, we took the youth out to knock doors. I took a group, Elder Robertson took a group and the other elders took groups to separate areas to knock doors. I had TJ Ferrell 12 (dad is white and mom is peruvian), Larry Gonzalez 14, Josh Valle 16, and Julio Messias 13. Before we started knockin, Josh and I went to an appointment we had to ask if we could move it back in the day. The mom answered the door and called her son over to talk to us because she didn't understand. He came out clearly upset. We asked if Jose and Maria were there. He said he didn't know who they were (we had the wrong address) and so I rattled off the regular introduction and he waited till I was done and finally said. "Ya'll just buggin round here go head and keep walkin." I asked, "Ya know all we're here for is to help you, your family and everyone else to come closer to Jesus Christ." He said, "I already ****** know Jesus ya'll don't need to ****** tell people how to worship, I already ****** know Jesus!" So I politely sarcastically replied, "How did you come to know Jesus?" and he yelled, "*** !" and slammed the door. That was Josh's first time knocking a door. I walked away with a smile, and Josh asked, "How do you deal with that?" I said, "You just kinda get used to it and I guess that black tag kinda just makes you happy."
So we got back to the car and went on to knockin down some doors. Josh and Julio took one side of the street and Larry, TJ, and I took the other. Amazingly we got four return appointments in about 40 minutes. Two of which were had read or already were reading the BoM. Impressive. The youth loved it. We came back and had pizza and dropped off the youth and went on with our day. On Sunday they all went up and bore their testimonies and it was awesome. They said they all want to go on missons now and are super excited.
The work is great and I love you all.
Elder Matt
p.s. Send everything to the mission address 5900 Grand Ave. 92504...there's a good chance I may be transferred...I've been here 6 months.