Hola mis chavalos

Monday August 20, 2012

Hola mis chavalos,

WOW what a week. We did WORK! This past week was the most efficient week OF MY MISSION. We had 17 lessons (which is still not 20 so there's room for improvement), and 306 OYM's. It was going sooo good until Sunday came and nobody came to church....I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO GET THESE PEOPLE TO CHURCH!! I felt the spirit SOO strong in every single one of our lessons, invited these people to come to church, got a yes, “do you need a ride?”   “Yes”, they say…We say, “Great, we'll get you a ride.”  OK, boom done ya.....and NOTHING! We call them Sunday morning, “Still plannin on coming to church?”    “No.”  they say.  We ask, “Why?”  Then, here come the excuses…”Because I have things to do”, or  “I’m tired”,  or  “We’re going out of town”, or  “I’ll just be cool and not even answer the phone”.....I'm about to go by a bike trailer and tow these people to church. Ridiculous!.....anyways sorry for the rant. That's missionary work. Ups and downs, but the ups DEFINATELY outweigh the downs.

So I'm on track to finish the Book of Mormon again by the end of August, then I'm making a goal to read the entire Bible, Bible Dictionary, Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price before the end of my mish. That's 4,450 pages in 9 months, which means 17 pages a day. I'm stoked!

 We found 6 new investigators this week. I want to talk about Juan and Marivel. Juan is 24 and Marivel is 37.......tiiiiiny little difference in age, but it's ok, it's Spanishland. I don't think they're married but we can fix that. Marivel has been through a LOT of trials in her life. She grew up in downtown LA, sometimes with a roof sometimes not. As we began to teach the 1st lesson, We talked about God and who he is, and I had the strongest impression to stop and change the lesson.  We decided to teach about the Atonement of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I asked, "Marivel, How do you know that God loves you?" ( BTW, one of my favorite questions)   She paused and said, “ I don't know.”  I said, “Think about it a little bit…”   Well…the Hoover Dam might as well have sprung a leak. She was in tears the whole lesson (and I was literally dripping with sweat the WHOLE lesson). They are prepared and I can't wait to see the progress and change the Gospel of Jesus Christ with make in their lives.

 I love all of you. You're all in my prayers. Mike I can't wait for you to leave and serve the Lord with all your heart, might, mind and strength. I love you pal. NEVER LET UP. Never make excuses not to work. You're going to be a GREAT missionary. You just have to do your part. Love ya feito.

-Elder Dial