Who is STOKED for Conference?!?

This is the only picture I took this week… me in a neat lookin chair. Enjoy it.  (Editor mother says...seriously?)

Dear Family and friends,

What's up? Yesterday was awesome. I did a musical number in sacrament meeting. I did the Michael Hicks version of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. Love that arrangement. That's the one I did at my last MTC devotional as well. I was a little nervous about playing and singing at the same time, but it worked out well. None of our investigators decided to show up, but the Spirit was strong nonetheless. We are trying to find the elect. We have seen some good things happen as we talk to everyone and follow the Spirit as well.

Last Monday was a good day. We went to Walmart and also to some other stores. I bought a really good looking pair of brown shoes. They be stylin. Also, every Monday we have a "Noche de Hogar" at the church. I taught about member missionary work. I started out by showing how the restoration and the Gospel in general have blessed my family. Without the Gospel, I would be nothing. But with it, I am everything. I then asked some others how the Gospel had blessed their family. Then I took the angle that we all have been blessed by the Gospel. We know it's true. Does everyone else in the world? No. So we have to share it with them. We then talked about how to be a member missionary. We had some awesome participation from lots of people. The Spirit was there. He bore testimony to me and to many others of the truthfulness of what I was teaching. It just felt super good. But even looking back, I can see how the Spirit was working through me to ask certain questions, to cover this topic, to call on a specific person. It was a blessing to me to be able to share my thoughts about it. I am determined to be an awesome member missionary when I get home. The blessings are not to be lost. They are too great and rewarding.

We taught another very bold lesson with Agusto, a less-active, about not letting other people get in the way of our relationship with God. He says he understands but he isn't applying it. He is allowing people to offend him and thereby offending the Spirit by not keeping the commandments. It is super sad. We explain it as clear as can be, bear testimony, resolve his concerns, it is in him to repent and be better, but he kind of just throws it in our face. Super frustrating, but I am 100 sure that Heavenly Father gets frustrated with me sometimes when I don't do what He wants me to do. I seek His will every day, and strive to know what He wants me to do. If you know someone who is going through the same, go read/watch Elder Bednar's talk from October 2006 "And Nothing Shall Offend Them." It is a great one.

Osiris, one of the members of our branch was in the hospital for the second time this week. She had an operation on her stomach, but was still having pains. We went in to see her and to give her a blessing, and she didn't look very good. She was like telling her kids goodbye kind of. She said that everything would be alright, and that God was with her. I hope she gets well soon. But God's will will be done. We gave her a blessing. We hope and pray that everything goes well for that family.

WHO IS STOKED FOR CONFERENCE???? Elder Dial is. Elder Wall showed me a cool way to prepare. He goes in his Patriarchal Blessing, and from what he feels as he reads it comes up with a few questions that he wants answered. When Elder Bowen was here a few weeks ago, he focused a TON on that, never go anywhere without a question. The Lord will answer them, especially through His prophets and apostles. This morning I went through my Patriarchal Blessing and came up with three money questions that I will be focusing on this conference. DO THE SAME!!!!!

I know these things are true. They bless our lives. Many people willingly live without them. Don't know why. Many people don't even know about it. That's where you and I come in. Let's open our mouths to them. Love ya all!!!!

Elder Dial

Walmart and Miracles!

Mike..."This is an 87 year old member that always looks fresh in Sacrament Meeting. Carlitos."

Their meeting house in an old bank.

Hola Familia!

We biked to Walmart last Monday. It is kind of far but that's ok. Walmart is worth it. Plus we totally saw a huge miracle while we were there. A girl named Angie came up to us. She is a less active member. Recently she has had some hard times. A year or two ago she tried to kill herself. Recently they had a home break in. The people hit her in the face with a fire extinguisher leaving a very deep scar on her forehead. They then duct taped her to a chair in her house. It is pretty rough. We talked with her for a while. She said that just the fact that she saw us was a miracle and an answer to her prayer. She felt the Spirit that she hasn't felt in a long time. She isn't quite accepting anyone into her house right now because of the recent break in, but we now know why we went to Walmart today. It is because The Lord knew that Angie needed to see us and so He sent us there unawares. It was an awesome experience being led by the hand of The Lord to one of His daughters that needed a little bit of uplifting.

We had an awesome lesson with Pedro this week. He read Joseph Smith's testimony and remembered basically everything. He even remembered the date that it happened. He had read it like 3-4 times so that he could remember it. Even I didn't know that. He is progressing. He needs to keep coming to church and then get married to that señora of his. He didn't make it to church this week because Satan was working with him. But that's ok. He'll get there.

They split Bridgeton! It is kind of a bummer because we don't have half of our area, but that's ok. That's the way that the Lord wanted it, so we will work according to His will. We now have half the area that we used to. It is going to be awesome! So much work is going to get done here. Plus we are in a district of pure Spanish elders, and I haven't had that since I was in Allentown almost a year ago; crazy how time flies.  The new elders are Elder Beatty and Elder Karren. Elder Karren is fresh out. He actually went to the México MTC and learned Spanish there. He already has pretty good Spanish. It surprised me. He almost has as good Spanish as his trainer, kind of funny haha. I LOVE doing district meeting in Spanish again. I remember that in my first district meeting I didn't understand a WORD people were saying. But now I do! It is SUPER weird that I can speak Spanish now. It amazes me every day that I speak to people. It is weird to think that there was a time that I could not do it. But I can now!

Found a SUPER good quote by Elder Packer, made me feel good. Hope it can help my thousands of letter readers out there too.

"When I first read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover, I read the promise that if I “would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if [the things I had read were] true; and if [I would] ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he [would] manifest the truth of it unto [me], by the power of the Holy Ghost” ( Moro. 10:4 ). I tried to follow those instructions, as I understood them.  If I expected a glorious manifestation to come at once as an overpowering experience, it did not happen. Nevertheless, it felt good, and I began to believe."

"My experience has been that a testimony does not burst upon us suddenly. Rather it grows, as Alma said, from a seed of faith. “It will strengthen your faith: for ye will say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and beginneth to grow” ( Alma 32:30 ). If you nourish it, it will grow; and if you do not nourish it, it will wither (see Alma 32:37–41 ).

Do not be disappointed if you have read and reread and yet have not received a powerful witness. You may be somewhat like the disciples spoken of in the Book of Mormon who were filled with the power of God in great glory “and they knew it not” ( 3 Ne. 9:20 ).

Do the best you can. Think of this verse: “See that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order” ( Mosiah 4:27 )."

 This comes from his 2005 April Conference Talk. Read it. It's awesome. Testimonies grow like plants. Day by day we can't see a difference. But over time, with very good care, it grows into a towering tree of testimony. I cross-referenced that quote with Alma 32. Probably my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon, that Book is true. I know it. This Gospel is restored, and it is the truest thing upon this earth. Thanks for all the support. Hope ya liked my birthday card Marcus. Worked hard on that thing

Love,

-Elder Dial

 This is an 87 year old member that always looks fresh in Sacrament Meeting. Carlitos

I'm in a Philly state of mind!

 Philly Skyline.  I'm not sure why he thinks he has to look to be contemplating something.  Mike being Mike I guess.

Hola Familia!!!!  This week was SWEET! Transfer calls came, and Elder Wall and I will be staying here in Bridgeton, which is awesome!!  Elder Wall is great and his Spanish is getting better day by day.

 Ok, the highlight of my week. On Friday, we had Elder Shane M. Bowen come to the mission. He did a mission tour, and we went up from Bridgeton to Philly to hear him. Before the conference, he had asked us to study the baptismal covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, the oath and covenant of the priesthood, and the house of Israel. I did. It was a great experience studying. I was also asked to play prelude for like 30 minutes before. I liked just playing around and doing my own little arrangements with the hymns for a while. Elder Minnich is SUPER good on the piano and arranging stuff and he taught me a couple little things to do to arrange the hymns on the go.

Elder Bowen knows his stuff. He did some great comparisons. His method was not really to tell us to be obedient. He showed to us who we really are. We are all, of the house of Israel. We are the fulfillers of the Abrahamic covenant. We are literally entitled to the blessings of that covenant just like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were! What a blessing! Even if one is not a literal descendent of Abraham, they can be adopted into the covenant. God is not a respecter of persons. All are called but few are chosen. Elder Bowen replaced the word chosen with the word obedient. The obedient inherit the blessings. It made me want to change. There are some things that I need to improve. This conference made me want to change. Not because Élder Bowen told me to, rather that I understand the blessings that I would lose if I didn't keep my end of the covenant. We are the offspring of God Himself. He wants us to be like Him. If we do what He asks us to do, we can do it. Nothing is more important than that. We shouldn't let anything come between that. Do the half-obedient get to go sit down with Father Abraham? No they won't. Many are called, but few are chosen. If we keep our end of our covenants, we will be chosen. He also mentioned that the oath and covenant of the priesthood doesn't only apply to men. It applies to the couple. There are no single men or women in heaven. They have to take upon themselves the new and everlasting covenant to do so. He focused on that a lot too. It was a very enlightening conference. I liked his talks before, but now I feel like I know him a little better.

After the conference in Philly, we missed the bus to go back to Bridgeton, so we stayed the night in Camden, New Jersey, literally the most dangerous city in the United States. It was awesome. We met up with the Camden Elders and slept on the hardwood floor of their apartment, then got up at 6 am to catch the bus. 'Twas an excellent experience. Plus I got to take an AWESOME picture of the Philly skyline at night.

We talked to Agusto yesterday. He is a less-active that recently stopped going to church. He has a calling as a branch-missionary and LOVES the missionaries. He is drawing ridiculous conclusions about the members of the branch. According to him, because some members don't live the Gospel perfectly, obviously they do not believe in the Book of Mormon, he Bible, Doctrine and Covenants, etc. Not living the Gospel perfectly means that some members didn't say hello to him or offer food to him when they offered it to the missionaries. He uses 2 John 10-11 as justification. He is frustrating me right now. I am glad that my parents raised me in a way and that I have learned and become converted to The Lord, not to the missionaries, a bishop, or anyone else.

We also me with Pablo and Yerani, they are some new investigators that we found last week. They are awesome. The expressed some doubts and concerns as we taught them the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but they are extremely open and willing to experiment upon the word. It reminds me in Moroni 7 in the last verse of the chapter where it says that God has given charity to all those who are true followers of His Son. I see it in them. I hope and pray that they will read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It is the key. We sang a couple hymns together and they loved it. I can't wait to see how things go with them.

Well, that is my week. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARCUS!!!!! Holy fetch you're 13. That's super weird. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA DIAL!!!!! Not quite 13 but that's ok!

I love you all!!! This Gospel is completely true. I love it more and more each day. 

Elder Mike Dial

Grande Eres Tu

This Friday we have the chance to go up to Philly again and hear from Elder Shane M. Bowen of the First Quorum of the Seventy. I am so excited. This is my third General Authority to come out to my mission! I love hearing from them. They always give such great counsel and advice.

We fasted this week as a zone to be guided to those who are ready to progress towards baptism. We don't quite have any progressing with a date this week, but we did see some awesome things happen with finding and with people that we have been working with. Only the future will be able to tell us if stuff really happens. I have faith that it will.

We met with Pablo and Yerani. They are new investigators. They stopped us in their car while we were walking home. They told us where they lived, so we passed by and set up an appointment. They are SUPER Catholic. When she said a prayer to finish, she said Amen like 12 times and did the little cross thing with her hands... We just kind of sat there haha. But they didn't just say they were Catholic to us so that we would go away. That's what most people do... This lesson was mostly getting to know their religious background and where they come from. We got around to about prophets in the first lesson. I sincerely hope and pray that they will humble themselves enough to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. When they do, they will know. It is that simple. That little book packs a lot of punch. It is filled with the Spirit. It is the great converter and retainer. When people read it, they can use it as evidence of our message. It made me think of in Moroni 7:48 where Moroni says that all true followers of Christ have been blessed with CHARITY!!! That isn't exclusive to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Everyone. He also says we should PRAY ALWAYS that we might be filled with that love.

We had 2 people at church yesterday, 2 Investigators, one named Pedro, the other Genaro. They aren't really progressing that much, but we will see what happens, could be a nice little turning point for them.

We are also starting to teach a member's brother that has been here for like 3 months from Mexico. His name is Hector. He hasn't been studying or doing much anything spiritual recently, and he misses it from before. He used to be very spiritual. We said that we want to help him regain those feelings of spirituality that he had before! We taught him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. I can't wait to see how that works out.

Transfers are coming up this week. We will get calls to see if anyone leaves this Friday. I think Elder Wall is gonzo. It will be a bummer, because we have had some great times. But that's ok. We will do what the Lord wants us to do.

Well, things are going great here. This work is very true. Don't have any doubt about that. I love the Lord. I read today in 1 John 2:3-6 that we can't really say that we know God if we don't keep His commandments. That is the ultimate form of showing Him that we love Him. Just like John 14:15 says. If ye love me keep my commandments. If we really do love him, we will do our best to. We aren't perfect, and He knows that. He just asks us to do our best. Love you all!!!

-Elder Dial

P.S. Grandpa Bevan is totally in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ5zeG87q7E#t=214