Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Atonement is amazing!



 WE BAPTIZED JESUS!!!! Well probably about 90% of you read that wrong but that doesn't matter! We had an awesome baptism on Sunday. Jesus was baptized by his uncle, Fulvio, who we baptized in November. He has come and grown so much. Fulvio did it on one attempt too, which was a plus. There is not a better feeling that being able to help rescue an investigator and help them be born again into a new life as a devoted disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. We met Jesus back at our branch Christmas party. We found him because Fulvio wasn't afraid to bear his testimony and share the Gospel with his family! Now we are hoping to teach Jesus' parents too! Those two will take a lot of faith and prayer to teach, but we are gonna do it. We are making it our goal to make this branch become a ward.

The rest of that Sunday pretty much everything fell through, but that is ok. There are days like that, and when that happens, just remember the miracles that we see every day, and also many more miracles that we don't even recognize zooming around us.

Comment about Matt eating a lot is funny. That is exactly who I am known as here! Haha I really do try to not eat so much but sometimes the temptation is too great... Especially when people cook like they do here!!!! 

The highlight of my week (besides the baptism) was my studies. I have put a lot of talks on my iPod that I got from a different Elder, and one of them is by Cleon Skousen, “The Meaning of the Atonement” LOOK IT UP!!!!! That talk has literally revolutionized and changed the way that I look at the Atonement, and I have made strides and hurdles in my relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ. Someone once told me that it isn't a religion for them, that it is a relationship. This is what it has become and is becoming for me. I have learned about why the Atonement was necessary. Why couldn't our Heavenly Father just snap His finger and save all of us? Why did it require a sacrifice and pain so horrifically terrible that even the perfect Human, Jesus Christ, trembled because of pain and plead to the Father to accomplish it some other way? Why? Brother Skousen points out a ton of scriptures and really connects the dots. In Preach My Gospel, it says, "As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase." I can honestly say that it has happened to me. I have a stronger desire to work. I want to share it with everyone!

Carlos is on the right track. He talked to his girlfriend about marriage; she didn't want to do it. So he is sleeping at his sister’s house now. He wants to be with her, and he said he will come back but only if she will marry him. We are resetting his baptismal date tonight; probably for the 17th of February. He hasn't missed church since we invited him. He and his son are going to make excellent additions to the Branch of Allentown.

Mom, I still haven't gotten your package you sent. It well get here eventually... I hope Haha I anxiously check for the package slip EVERY DAY!!!

Well, that is it for me today. The Atonement is real, and because of it, we can repent. We can become clean and return to our Heavenly Father!!!!!

Love you tons,    

Elder Mike Dial

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