Mariachi Band at a funeral??? Of course!

 Agusto  (a "swell" member in the area) and Elder Dial

We had a lesson with Enrique Panteleón. He has a mountain of potential. Had a couple concerns, and kept going off on little tangents during our lesson, but after we bore testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, he felt the Spirit. It prompted him to want to read and pray. He said that he would. He brought it up. We didn't. I am so excited for the guy. He came to Priesthood session last week and LOVED it. Keep that guy in your prayers back home.

So over this past weekend, basically our entire branch took a huge camping trip up to Palmyra. It is about 7 hours from Bridgeton NJ. They had a great time. I wish I could have gone to see all of those Mexicans camping haha. But in any case, our sacrament meeting was a little sparse. It started out with NO Hispanics. We have a couple Americans assigned to the branch, and they were there. So we started in English. We kept the meeting in English up to the Sacrament prayer on the bread. Then, during the sacrament, a bunch of members came in. So, halfway through, we switched to Spanish and did the prayer on the water in Spanish. Good times in the Bridgeton Branch.

It rained a bunch this week. One of those weeks where I wish I had a car... But that's ok. Just got a little wet.

He decidido que la frase "Orale Pues" es la frase mas útil en Español. Se la puede usar en cualquier situación. A mí me encanta.

Mexican hot chocolate is delicious. Next time you are at the store, look for it. It is called "Abuelita." Matt will know where to find it. Then get some sweet bread and you don't drink the chocolate. You drain it by dipping your bread into it and then eating it. There is no more soda, water, or anything since the cold came. It is all chocolate, pan dulce, y atole. It is delicious.

We went to a funeral yesterday. I don't think I will ever forget it. There were lots of crying, mourning, and an extremely loud mariachi band. Like so loud that I wanted to cover ears but I did not out of respect, like it was super loud. It was Silvia Ignacio's (more-or-less active member) ex husband's funeral. She is a very dramatic person , one of the most dramatic people that I have ever met. Like so dramatic that I don't even want to try to explain it in writing right now. She was misinformed about the funeral location, and apparently she took that very offensively, to the point that she never wanted to speak to her own son again. Is that dramatic? I think so. Luckily, she opened up that heart of hers and went the funeral. We did too. She asked us to go with her.

I am extremely grateful for my membership in the church, and for the knowledge that I have of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Prophets again walk the earth. If we just heed what they counsel us to do, we will never go astray. We have access to their words on our phones, iPods, tablets, and computers! How awesome is that? If we will just apply what they say, we will be so much better off. Go, read their words, then apply what they say to you. I promise that if you are doubting at all, just try it. You will gain/strengthen your testimony so much. That is my testimony. I have done it. I know of myself that it is true.

 Love you all!   

 -Elder Mike Dial