This work is true...and I LOVE it!

Dear Family,

I love this work. It's the greatest. This week was good, though not too eventful… I was an English speaking missionary for two days though.  I went on two English exchanges two days in a row and my Spanish stunk after. That was cool…Not. We taught some really cool people on those exchanges, and I also made another good buddy on the mission. Elder Webster is from Santa Clara, UT. He's super hilarious and goes home in 4 weeks.

Yesterday, we confirmed Juan, Vianca and Silvia. It was super cool. I love when people feel, listen to, and act upon the promptings of the Spirit they receive. I hope to be better at that.

We've started teaching this new family named the Flores family. They are super tight. We did a Harvesting Blessing with them about a month ago and haven't been able to get a hold of them. It was super frustrating because I felt the Spirit when we did it. So, we FINALLY got in with them. We taught the Restoration of the Gospel. We invited them to be baptized. They accepted the invitation. I have had only one chance to teach them but that was only because we were on exchanges. I'm excited to see some progress. The family consists of Reynaldo and Lorena and their daughter Perla (11), super tight family.

We also dropped like 5 investigators at last. We had sooo many who just weren't progressing then they would show a tiny bit of promise....then fall again. We decided it wasn't their time. Hopefully we'll be able to pick up some new investigators from the family of all the investigators who were just baptized.  

 I love this work and their kickin us off the computers. I'm sorry the email is sooo short. This work is true and I love it. I'll say it again and again. Love you all!!

-Elder Matt Dial

WE ACHIEVED ALL OUR GOALS!

Hello everybody,

This week was great. We didn't do our best with Member Present Lessons, but we had two baptisms, one confirmation and six investigators at church. That completes the goal that Elder Johnson and I set at the beginning of the transfer. ALWAYS SET A BAPTISMAL GOAL WITH YOUR COMPANION AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH TRANSFER!

We discussed and prayed and made the goal for 5 baptisms, and because of our obedience, hard work, and faith, God came through and gave us 2 on the last day of the transfer. God loves us and wants us to be successful according to HIS will and not ours. So as we set goals, trying to align our will with His; it ALWAYS WORKS OUT. That's just how it works. We will be staying as companions for another transfer. We set the goal for 6 baptisms, this coming transfer. It will be difficult because this transfer is only 5 weeks. However, I know that God will provide.

 We also both set bench press goals :) Mine's 330 and Johnson's is 275. I'm very excited for this next transfer. We had some problem missionaries in the zone before, lazy, unmotivated, prideful, dead missionaries. There were a couple missionaries. God decided to pull all them out and give us some all-stars. Every single companionship in our zone besides the sisters, have a leadership calling. The Palm Desert Zone is going to baptize. I can't wait to do tons of interviews. It's gonna be good.

Yolanda dropped us. She's the super Christian lady who was on date for baptism this weekend as well. She was going to be baptized hardcore, but, the pastors of her other church are demons from Satan and prayed/blessed/gave her a new ministry and she got confused. We had a super intense lesson with her. We got there, asked her to get her BoM and she was like, "I have to talk to you first." Great. She told us how she's super confused and doesn't know what to do and wanted us to stop coming by even though she knows everything is true. We said, "Can we have a prayer?" this is in the middle of the lesson. She said a prayer asking God what she should do. After the prayer, we sat in silence for literally like 4:54 mins in COMPLETE SILENCE. She got up and talked about how she saw a tip of a star with a beams of light coming off of it (no idea what the fetch that is supposed to mean). Then said that Satan was in the house confusing her. We said, "We have the authority to cast out spirits." She said, "Do it." We placed our hands on her head. As soon as I said, "In the name of Jesus Christ..." I felt an intense energy start from my head and go through my hands into her head. I cast out the spirit in the name of Christ and gave the blessing. As I was giving the blessing, I totally forgot where I was and felt completely guided by the Spirit. I have no idea what I said but I know what I felt. The priesthood is real. I know it, as we are worthy to hold that Priesthood, God works through us. She reaffirmed the baptismal date for the 17th of Feb and was set. We said, "When can we come back?" She said, "Tomorrow, I don't want you to leave me for that long." We came back the next day and Adriana (her daughter who thinks she's super hot but she's super not) answered the door. She basically told us that we were bothering her and confusing her mom and bothering the family and if we came back she would call the cops. Garbage. Yolanda told us to come. Anyways, we testified and challenged her to listen to our message. She said, "No." So we left. I HATE WHEN FAMILY INTERFERES WITH SALVATION!!!! IF YOU'RE ONE OF THEM AND YOU'RE READING THIS EMAIL ACCEPT CHRIST AND HUMBLE YOURSELF BEFORE HIM SO HE CAN POUR OUT BLESSINGS FROM THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN UPON YOU. Sorry. That felt good. I've seen family interfere with Salvation so much it's insane. I hate it.

Anyways, the Peña's got baptized and we'll hopefully start teaching the rest of the family (2 brothers, and a father). They all came to the baptism and loved it. Pray for Yolanda to have an awakening. Pray that we can start teaching the rest of the Peña family.

I love you all and don't want to come home.

-Elder Matt Dial

 

I LOVE THIS!!!

Dear Familia,

This work is the greatest. This week was awesome! The Lord blessed us with tons of success. We had two baptisms, this week. Rafael and Juan both got baptized. It was great. They were both baptized by a member which is the way to do it. Juan is the boyfriend of one of our very strong members and has been taught everything multiple times. His problem was he could never come to church on a consistent basis. We finally had an intense lesson with him a couple weeks ago, committed him to look with faith for a new job and put him on date for baptism. He starts his new job next week. He was baptized by his girlfriend's dad; very spiritually uplifting.

 Rafael was a media referral. He is basically the exact same case as Juan. He just gets more Sundays off than Juan does. He has been to church over 10 times and comes more often than our Ward Clerk so we decided to dunk him anyways. He will also start a new job in the next few months. He was baptized by Hermano Quintero. Before Hermano Quintero and Rafael were both baptized they both went to this Catholic youth group deal together. Quintero was one of the youth, and Rafael was the leader. After a long time of not  Rafael, my companion and I split up because we had too many appointments that night. I took Quintero to Rafael and after some reminiscing; we started the lesson, and had him on date by the end. It was tender to see the emotions of both during the baptismal service.

To top it off, we had 9 investigators to church! The Pena's came. We had a super cool experience with them. We had a lesson with them Saturday. They said they went to a family party the night before and their family members are all hardcore Pentecostals. They have like 3 aunts who are all pastors. Ridiculous. They all found out that Vianca and Silvia were both going to be baptized and had a conniption. They were all freaking out yelling at both of them, and then Silvia yelled, "This makes me want to be Mormon even more!" I did a fetchin fist pump in the middle of the lesson. I was so stoked. They will both be baptized this coming Sunday.

 Yolanda also came to church. She is as solid as ever and will also be baptized the coming Sunday. Then a couple of new investigators named Maria and Miguel came to church as well. We have only taught them one lesson and they came to church and the baptism yesterday. Maria is 19 and Miguel is 25 and they have been here in the US for like months, straight out of Michoacan, Mexico. They are looking super solid, reason being, is because they live in Mecca. The drive from Mecca to the church is like an hour drive. These people have literally nothing. NOTHING. Super poverty stricken, and it is very humbling.

 Then Luciano, a guy who has been taught everything also drove out from Mecca to church. We haven't been able to talk to him for a WHILE and he just showed up. He knows the BoM is true and basically needs to receive the answer that he needs to be baptized and that's it. We have LOT's of work going. The Taylor's didn't come to church and we haven't been able to see them in a while. We found 7 new investigators this week and are making this work more like an escalator than an elevator. Always be finding, teaching, and baptizing, at the same time. It's difficult but as we are diligent and faithful, and obedient, God will make it happen. He's waiting to pour out blessings, upon the obedient and faithful.

I LOVE THIS!! I literally do not want to come home and stop being a full-time missionary. It is the BEST TWO YEARS and that is sooo cliche but sooooo true. I love you!

-Elder Matt Dial

The work is flourishing!!!

Hello everyone.

 This week was   sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. Actually it was a litttle slow lesson wise but we have tons of investigators soooo close to baptism.

 So I'll start with Eric who was baptized yesterday. First of all, it was a GREAT baptism. Super spiritual, support from the ward, the only part was while Elder Johnson was changing I was asked to play the piano while we sang hymns and waited for them to change. It was a little butchered......but I did alright. Super good baptism.

We then taught a woman named Yolanda. She is probably the most prepared investigator I've ever taught on my mission. Because there is opposition in all things, she also has one of the biggest challenges as an investigator. She and her family go to a Born-Again Christian church, very faithfully. Her family is way against us teaching her, but who are they to deny her salvation?!  Anyways we had her on date for a while then one day her daughter came to the door and said, "She doesn't want to be between two churches and doesn't want you to keep coming over. Thanks." Slammed door. We knew she was a lying sack because the night before Yolanda told us that while she was reading 1 Nephi 8 (Lehi's dream) she had the words, "No te preocupes por tu familia." "DON'T WORRY ABOUT YOUR FAMILY!"

So we finally contacted her after like a month and talked to her. Her daughter, came into the room and sat down randomly, so we were like, "Yolanda, did you ever say you didn't want us to come back over?"

"NO! Why would I ever say that?! I know what you're teaching me is true!"

"Ooooohhhhhhhhh. Somebody told us you didn't want us to come back over......oh well."

WHAMMY!!!!! BOOM!!!! EAT IT SATAN!!!!! It was cool. She came to church yesterday. And she'll be baptized on the 17th. 

Then the Peña family also came to church. Then the Taylors came to church. Then Juan Roman came to church. The Rafael and his wife came to church. We had 8 eight EIGHT EiGhT investigators to church! Super cool. Most I've had in my mission. All of our investigators on date came to church. We're gonna go swimming hardcore this month. Back to investigators. Peña's are great. They're on date for the 17th of this month. We don't really need to teach anything else. She just wants to set it in advance so her hubby can come. Righteous choice. The Taylors, are a white family we're teaching because we cover a English/Spanish unit in Borrego Springs. If you want to go on lds.org and look at the boundaries they are ridiculously huge. So ya. We cover the city of Coachella, Mecca, Thermal, Salton City, and Borrego Springs, a HUUGE area. Few details about investigators… Juan Roman is a novio (boyfriend) of one of the members here. He has wanted to be baptized for a while. He just hasn't been able to get work off. At church he texted us and was like can I be baptized today?! We were like, you should probably invite your fam, and your novia (girlfriend) works today.....so we'll postpone it till next week. Rafael got off Sunday and came with his wife. He comes to church when he can, has a desire to follow Christ, so we'll baptize him on the 10th.

So I had my first ZLC (Zone Leader Council). We all go to Riverside, and talk about goals, zone plans, goals for the mission, and cool stuff. We have set the goal for like 1500 baptisms for the mission for the year of 2013. The year of 2012 we had like 737. 2011 we had 630. We're gonna fetchin do it. This work is the greatest.

The work is flourishing. We just got to focus on finding investigators while we baptize our teaching pool so it's more of an escalator rather than an elevator.

 I have the best family ever. I love you!!!

-Elder Matt Dial