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.

We went to the Redlands Temple!

January 24, 2012

Dear Family,

So this week we had the awesome opportunity to go the Redlands temple, and do an endowment session. I love going to the temple, I learn something new every time I go. Every time we go to the temple it's tradition to go to Cafe Rio, the only one I know outside of UT. Man I love that shredded pork burrito.

We had somewhat of a slow week, we had P-day Monday, DDM and took the car in Tuesday, temple interviews and took the car in again Wednesday, went to the temple Thurs, and did weekly planning Friday. All of these events take about a minimum of three hours of the day. That's a lot of prime proselyting time. Saturday was the only regular proselyting day. We had stake conference, on Sunday which was good, because we got another hour of proselyting time.

So, Stephanie Solis, IDK (I don’t know) if you still remember her, her mom is the one with the tumor. We dropped her because she wasn't progressing and her dad was inhibiting that progression. We dropped by randomly and said hello......she had finished the book of Mormon. Mind you, we hadn't gone by to visit them in months! Unfortunately, her dad won't let her get baptized. If you could pray for her that would be great. Her dad straight up doesn't like the missionaries. He has said if they go to church he'll follow them and shoot and kill them and us.....oh well, that black tag is bullet-proof.

Not much else to report, other than I love you guys and hope you have a great week!

-Elder Dial

EDITORS NOTE: Sorry this is in the wrong order...I didn't realize it hadn't been posted...oops..thanks for checking us out! WE love you!

January 9, 2012

Alright,

This week has been a little rough. We picked up three new investigators this week but we were low on OYM's and lessons. Also, our so-called golden investigator Leslie Arturo Miranda didn't show up to church yesterday.....We'll have to go and see what's up with him.

So, in the first week of January, WE've racked up 500 miles......our area is MASSIVE. We have found a lot of work in Perris/Woodcrest/Orangecrest area which is about a 10min drive. It's good that we've found a lot of work but it's a ways away.

I don't know if Aunt Karen has sent the Christmas package yet or maybe it just got lost in the mail.....IDK. Chris Vega leaves for the MTC a week from today so that will be a sad day. He has come over about every day this past week and spent the night and gone on team-ups with us. it's super good.

Gustavo got up in testimony meeting.......it was super embarrassing. It wasn't really a testimony; it was more of what he did in Mexico the week before....he talked about the Virgin Mary and all the celebrations and how bonito it all was. We plan on asking him the baptismal interview questions in the next lesson with him (he's the one who has been investigating for the past three years).

It's Elder Robertson's birthday on the 14th IDK if you want to send him anything...just so you know. President Smart Ok'ed protein and workout shakes and stuff so that made me excited. Also, he ok'ed ipods as long as they don't have movies on them. President Smart made a new Standard of Excellence. 140 oyms/week, 20 lessons/week, 4 ppl to sacrament/week and 1 baptism monthly. We're pretty good with the lessons and OYMs but the sacrament and baptism thing we have been strugglin with.

Pray for us. That's really all that has happened recently but I love you all and pray for you nightly!

-Matt

January 16, 2012

Good afternoon family,

.

This week has been kind of hectic. We have had a bunch of distractions and stuff this week, but the work goes on with or without us.....So on Tuesday, we got in a wreck. On the way to DDM (District Development Meeting) there was some traffic, and we were running on the late side so Elder Robertson was driving in a little hurry. We were merging on to another freeway and we hopped into the left lane. Behind us was a 2007 Mercedes Benz SLK going about 80 into Stop and Go traffic on the freeway. We were going about 40 so he flipped us off and slammed on his brakes. We continued in Bumper to bumper traffic for about five minutes then the chevy aveo in front of us slammed on their brakes. Rob was lookin in his rear view mirror, looked up hit his brakes hard and we almost hit her. Next thing we knew the Mercedes had run into the back of us.....Justice? I don't think he'll be flippin anyone off in the near future. All in all everyone was fine except for our bumper. Luckily his car was fine (I think) and we drove off and still got to DDM on time. So we turned in the car and got a loaner 2010 Chevy Malibu. Decent car...except the fact that it was given to us with the check engine light on....Elder Haygood the Fleet Coordinator, told us to go take it in to get it looked at. The Sears auto shop said it was still under warranty after looking at it in the shop for 4 hours. We took it in to the dealer and they said after having it all day that a rock had gotten into one of the systems and had to be replaced.....they couldn't get the part until today. We can't take the car in today. We're super busy today. So we have to take it in tomorrow and waste more time at the dealer. Ugh.

On a lighter note I had the opportunity to go on Exchanges with the ZL's and interview two of their investigators for baptism. Gloria and Maritza Cabada are super good. Gloria is 18 and has been waiting to be baptized for two years. The missionaries got in contact with her and her family two years ago, were progressing, and got “anti-ed”. Gloria saw through it all and kept meeting with the missionaries. Her parents wouldn't let her get baptized until she turned 18. MAritza, her sister, was walking by during a lesson about a month ago and said, "Guys, I feel like I'm missing something in my life and I think it’s God, do you mind if I listen?" Now they're both baptized and solid. Half the ward showed up to the baptism and it was basically SRO in that room. It was a nice time. Arturo told us last week that he's moving up to orange county.....bummer. We’ll send the referral there i guess. Nothing else has really happened. Thanks for the AWESOME package btw. It was great. I don't think i need groceries for another three months! You're all the best! Love you and miss you tons!

-Elder Dial

p.s. Also, next time you plan on sending out a package.......if you could deflate my bball....that would be the best. NO RUSH. Love you so much

Happy New Year!!

January 2, 2012

Hey Everyone,

This week has been a fairly good week. We have been pretty productive this week. We instituted a new system in our district/zone that Elder Young and I have been working on. We only have so many proselyting hours per day, say it's 8 today. On average, we can either get 10 OYM's or a lesson in one hour. So in an 8 hr day, we can get 80 OYM's and no lessons, 40 OYM's and 4 lessons, etc....as you record you numbers daily and add them up, you can track your efficiency throughout the week. It's very effective and I like it a LOT.

This week we put an investigator on date for the 29th of this month. his name is
Leslie Arturo Miranda. He is on house arrest and is progressing fairly well. He is on house arrest so we can always find him at home. He is more golden than I've seen on my mission. He eats up the lessons, he's like 26 and is a pretty tight guy, and loves to have us over. That's about all the investigators we've been focusing on, other than finding and refreshing.

Well, love ya'll and happy new year!

-Matt