WOOOOOOOW!!!!

 Dear Family and friends,

Man this week was great. I love missionary work. We picked up 10 new investigators this week. Elder Johnson and I have instituted something new in our work. It's called Jello Farming...........I know you’re all reading as fast as possible to try and find out what this amazing sounding method could possibly be! I'll tell you…so… a lot of the time in missionary work, your plans including AAALLLLLL back up plans fall through. It happens… all the time. Well, when this happens, it's obvious that the Lord wants us to do something else. So, we better start askin’. So, this is what we do… we get out our hundreds of potential investigators that have collected over months/years and we ask the Lord which one we need to visit.  So, when the potential investigator that we prayed about doesn't answer the door (which is usually the case), we knock three doors to the left and three doors to the right. I know the Lord takes us to where we need to go if we do what's right and if we FOLLOW each prompting we receive. It works. Do it.

We had a bunch of lessons this week with members present (which is the only way to do it in my opinion). We as missionaries cannot relate to a husband and wife in their 30's and their 11 yr old daughter who were all born in Mexico. It's just not possible. It doesn't work. But there's a HUGE ward list that we all have that makes life soo much easier. Take members to lessons. Other lessons aren't even worth it (but you should still teach investigators even if you don't have a member :).

Anyways that family I was talking about is the Flores family. They are super sick. We've been working with them for about 2 months, and they FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH! I was stoked. They all accept everything we teach, but, until they came to church, they didn't embrace it or comprehend it. I love them. They loved church. They participated in all their classes, like really participated. Then Reynaldo (Father/Husband) called us and said thank you for inviting us and that he loved it and went on about all kinds of great things like that. It was super sick. They'll be baptized soon; we just have to have a lesson with them on Wednesday to put them on date. It's gonna be good.

Sad news, Elder Johnson will be transferred to Corona on bike training. He's stoked. I'm not so much because he's leaving me. My new companion is Elder Verges (g sounds like h and the syllabic stress is on the second "e" for you white speakers). I'm excited. He's from Argentina and is a great missionary. I can't wait to work with him. I've got 30 seconds left on my computer time.

I love you all. GO ON MISSIONS!!

-Elder Matt Dial

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Dear Family

This week was alright. It was a little slow. Nobody came to church. Didn't get as many lessons as we would've liked however, we found a lot of solid potentials.

First one was Angelina and her daughters, Jennifer and Bianca. We contacted her and asked her if she would be interested to have a blessing from Christ. She obviously obliged. We couldn't go inside because she didn’t' have a male in the home. We finally got someone to go out with us (Jason Aguirre leaves on his mission May 7 to Sydney, Australia.......Spanish speaking) and found her at home with luck. We left her a blessing. At the end of the blessing, we identified the Spirit, and invited her to be baptized. The Spirit was so strong. She accepted to be baptized on the 31st of this month. The only thing is, is they didn't come to church!!!! We'll have to move her date back poquito. I'm stoked.

 Then we spent a whole day in Borrego Springs. This place has a population of about 3,000 people. It's also about an hour and half away, if you drive the speed limit. We only go out there on Sundays to translate for church for the two or three Spanish members that come every once in a while and to hang out with the other 10 members. It's quite a small branch. Well, nothin was doin out here in Coachella, so we prayed hard and got the impression to set a Borrego day. It was exciting. We met a man named Mike Virgil (we cover that Bilingual Branch and the Spanish Ward where we live). Mike works 7 days a week and we found him at home on his 10 min lunch break. We prayed and asked the Lord where we should tract, and he told us. We knocked Hauberk st. Here, there's a house then an empty lot or two then another house. WE knocked the 1/2 mile long street, and we started the other side. THE LAST HOUSE WE KNOCKED ON WAS MIKES HOUSE. I KNOW the Lord led us there, and gave the impression to start on that certain side so we could find Mike while he was on his way out. He told us he wants to be a member of our church. God is good. He's SOOO good.

We found a couple other families, but I'm out of time. RECOGNIZE THE EVERYDAY MIRACLES AND LIFE WILL BE GOOD. It's gonna be fun. It's truly, a happy day for the gypsies.

-Elder Matt Dial

This week was a little bit trying...

Hello everyone,

This week was a little bit trying. We've been dropped or have dropped by over twenty people in the past 3 weeks. We're left with about 7 people to teach. That's not a lot. Sometimes it's to step back and take a look at the big picture, but I'm trying to do so daily. On Saturday, we had five lessons lined up and they all canceled, then dinner canceled. I know that the Lord had something for us to do. Elder Johnson and I pulled over and said a prayer to ask God what we should do. We sat in silence for a while, then we went to visit a potential investigator...nothin (this is all at about 8pm). We went and knocked on some doors....we got in and did a Harvesting Blessing......and nothin. Not interested. This process had been happening all day. We got in to two doors at the end of the day and nobody was really interested.

Then, Sunday rolls around. We had 9 people tell us they were for sure coming to church......nobody showed up. It's just kinda been a time and time again thing. It's rough, HOWEVER, I know that God has something in store for someone, for me, my companion and those elect people that we are looking for.

 I have NO IDEA how we’re going to get 6 baptisms this transfer. All I know is we set the goal, said a prayer, and received a confirmation from the Spirit. I know that miracles happen DAILY. If you don't see a miracle daily, you're a bad missionary. Look for them and you'll come to realize that they do happen....DAILY. We're planning to go out to Borrego Springs for a day. We're gonna work our butts off out there for a day and see what kind of miracle God can work. That whole little town has been literally UNTOUCHED by missionaries for years, giving people the time to get more and more ripe. I'm excited to see what we can harvest.

Tonight we have a lesson with a woman named Juana. After that, we have a lesson with Juan. I think I'll name my kids all common Spanish names just to throw everyone off. I'll probably receive a new companion in two weeks unfortunately. I really like Elder Johnson, definitely one of my favorite companions. He loves to do missionary work, and he loves to work out. That's really all I need. Speaking of working out, He did 255 on the bench today. He weighs 160 and is about 6% body fat. Every time I see him without a shirt on I about pass out. It's quite impressive. I did 305 fairly easy as well. I only did one rep and tried to move up to 315 but it was about my sixth set.....couldn't get it; I'll cut down the sets, and get 320 next week.

Our only really solid investigators are the Flores family, and Jesus Alfredo. None of the people came to church. I'm starting to doubt how solid they are. I'm not too worried about it though. As long as we do all we possibly can, we have no need to worry. I KNOW that Christ lives. I KNOW that he atoned for me. I need to get better at utilizing that Atonement so I can be better and better guided be the Spirit to fulfill my purpose. God is sooooo good.   I can't wait to be a vagabond missionary so you can never release me. I'm gonna steal a mission car and be a missionary for the rest of my life. MISSIONARY TILL I DIE.  

LOVE YOU!  Elder Matt Dial

Finding the Elect. "If you're looking for everybody, you're looking for nobody."

Recent Converts Mother & Daughter - Rest of Family soon to be baptized.

Sushi

Dear Family,

Missionary work is the absolute most fulfilling thing ever. I love doing this. This week was fun. We probably dropped like 3/4 of our investigators....finally. I was kinda hoping to do it earlier but, sometimes, you get attached to families. We dropped a ton of people. Don't waste time with people who don't want to be baptized. We are really trying to LOOK for and SEARCH for that one specific person who is ready to accept the Gospel. When I say ready, I mean those who will let us in the door, keep commitments, and be baptized. When I say keep commitments, I mean KEEP COMMITMENTS.

As I've grown on my mission, I've learned that not everyone is going to get baptized. ONLY THE ELECT. So, those are the only people we are going to look for. Not the people who are just going to let us in and listen because they are nice people. Those who listen, understand, accept, and live the things we teach are the only people we're going to be spending our time with. There are a lot. Wherever you are, there are the elect wherever you are serving. Ask God in prayer where you need to go. Be worthy of the Spirit, and FOLLOW EVEN THE SLIGHTEST PROMPTING. God wants us to succeed. He doesn't want us to not baptize. He doesn't want us not to have success. THE ONLY THING THAT HOLDS US BACK FROM HAVING SUCCESS/HAPPINESS IN ANYTHING IS OURSELVES. I learned that today.

So many investigators that we dropped were so close but, it's not their time. I have no qualms of going to 0 investigators. We haven’t but its close. Jesus Alfredo is on date for the 17th. He was the only one who came to church. He changed jobs so he could come to church with us. He reads. He prays. He's elect. We'll probably be droppin the Flores family. We've not been able to contact them forever and they haven't come to church yet. Luciano will prolly be dropped here pretty soon too. He is supposed to be baptized, but hasn't come to church for two weeks. He also canceled our appointment with him last week. He could get baptized if he just put forth effort. If he doesn't, stinks for him.

On the lighter side, we have some appointments tonight with some really solid potential families. We blessed a family last night that accepted a date for baptism. As we drop people who are not progressing, rays of sunshine come through the clouds (sorry i went kinda gay there) and we find those elect people D&C 29:7 read it.

Nothin real unusual happened this week. I went on exchanges with one my real good mish buddies, Elder Romney. We are like the same person. He's just a lot skinnier and better looking, and a lot more talented than I am. But, we're buds.

Sorry about the sermon. I just write how I FEEEEL. God is great, the mission is good, and people are crazy ;).

Love you!

-Elder Matthew Dial